While talking in class this week, we compared close people
in our life to glass vases. According to Epictetus, people are irrational for
suffering when they lose relatives, children, or close friends because they are
emotionally attached to them. If a person were to not become attached to them
then they would live a better life because they do not have pain. However, I
disagree with this belief. A person can never truly be happy because they would
lack friendship or feel lonely. Even though people do not get upset over a vase
breaking does not mean that we should compare objects to people in our life.
Vases are replaceable but people that mean something to us are not. We do
sometimes become to attach to the wrong people and face heartbreaks but that
only teaches a person a lesson. Without suffering a person would not learn from
their mistakes. For example, if a girl dated a really rich guy that everybody
wanted and he was so sweet to her then all of a sudden one day decided to break
up with her. She would learn her lesson that being rich and popular is not the
best characteristics when choosing a guy. Although, I do believe that there is
a certain extent as what too attached could mean. If a person is so attached to
someone that when they lose the person it causes mental harm to them then that
is irrationally. I think there should be logos to a person’s attachment. An
attachment is also sometimes hard to control. In conclusion, a person’s
existence is nowhere comparable to a glass vase or an object; therefore it is
not irrational to be attached to a person in our lives. However, I think Epictetus
is right about less suffering in a person’s life will make a healthier person
but attachment is not best suffrage to eliminate from a person’s life.
I think the point Epictetus was attempting to convey with the vase analogy was that we don't expect vases to last forever or never break, so we don't get upset when they break or we loose them. However, in some ways, we have irrational expectations about the people we love and the choices they make. Everybody lies, but we get all emotional when someone that we care about does it to us. This, Epictetus would say, is irrational. In other words, Epictetus is not necessarily saying that we cannot form attachments, have friends, or relationships; rather, he is saying that we should have reasonable expectations concerning these things.
ReplyDelete