The Banquet Of Life

Reading through the sections 10 to 20 on the Epictetus' the Handbook section 15 captured me. This is a truth that when said like that makes a lot of sense. Although I never thought of it like this, the statement is undeniable. It is explained in the text that one must always "behave as in a banquet" (17) since there is a feast laid before us in life where everything is served and it is a matter of passing it around the table. This is applicable to today's world. Today, there is the possibility of abundance for everybody. We have the choice of giving and receiving a plethora of everything we need yet we choose not to. Sometimes we choose not to pass the food around and with our eager selfish hands we give all, to few. Due to this many have to suffer in this world.

There is however hope for those who "do not take them but despise them, then you will not only share a banquet with the gods but also be a ruler along with them" (17). Through close reading I was able to extrapolate this: those who do not wish to take all the earthly possessions that are in the banquet will be free and thus become like gods. This is a statement to give hope to those who have given up on taking out of the banquet and now despise its contents, despise life and all its earthly attachments. The only way I can interpret these as positive things is that earthly attachments keep the soul from achieving perfection. Once the soul is perfected it will be like one of the gods. Although not much hope, since we all want our share of the "food", it shows us that there will be at least some compensation.

This banquet metaphor is something I liked a lot. It showed that there are something we can't change (like the food) and other that we can (like our attitude towards the food). This not only enforces the first teachings but it also shows the reality of life. A great amount of the suffering that we go through in our lives is caused by our attitudes and decisions. This book seems give a way to avoid our decisions and attitudes from interfering with our way to happiness. It is a manual to live and exploit to its fullest the Banquet of life.