The stoic Epictetus said that “I cannot escape death, but cannot I escape the dread of it?” Epictetus also said, “Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will  go on well.” Clearly the Stoics were interested in controlling their attitudes about nature and the world. The Stoics also seem to have a deep appreciation for accepting reality as it is.

The world, the Stoics said, is an orderly arrangement where man and physical things behave according to the principle of reason. The Stoics said that reason controls and orders the entire universe; reason determines the course of events. Nothing “rattles” in the universe; everything is fixed by the laws and rules of the universe perfectly.

Can one say that the universe operates in clockwork fashion, and without error? If one accepts this proposition, then it appears to dispel fear of the future, and even regret for the past.

I have just started reading some Stoic literature, namely the Discourses of Epictetus and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. I will let you know what I discover.  

It appears that the Stoics were very focused on obtaining happiness.

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