Opinions
Well, we all know the saying about opinions, everybody has one, and so on and so on. I’d like to reflect on one of the Stoic scholars’ quotes on opinions. It came up in my daily reading as I’m reworking through my journal from last year. Here is Epictetus’s work on opinions:
“What is bad luck? Opinion. What are conflict, dispute, blame, accusations, irreverence, and frivolity? They are all opinions, and more than that, they are opinions that lie outside of our seasoned choices, presented as if they were good or evil. Let a person shift their opinion only to what belongs in the field of their own choice, and guarantee that person will have peace of mind, and whatever is happening around them.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 3.3.18b-19
Ok then, what in modern terms, is an opinion? Well, for one, opinions are created and shaped by the teachings we have been exposed to since we were little children. Opinions can be based on religion, community, and cultural beliefs. Religious and cultural opinions have caused thousands to lose their lives or be oppressed by those in power. Power and opinion can cause a lot of damage in the wrong hands.
Expectations and entitlements can form opinions, and the stronger the latter two, the stronger the opinions can seem to be. Opinions can be based on knowledge or a lack thereof, often leading to ignorance or misunderstandings. Missing information or half-truths have caused significant damage when presented as opinions not grounded in sound facts, especially when wielded by those in power, control, or perceived influence.
Even worse is when opinions are intentionally created out of misinformation and half-truths. How many people have been harmed, bullied, mobbed, or, in the worst case, pushed over the edge by a nefarious person trying to misshape someone’s opinion of another? This is a common occurrence in politics, religion, the workplace, and friend groups. This is widely overlooked as normal behavior that is used to perpetuate corruption, war, systemic and community abuse to keep others down.
So the short and sweet of it today is that opinions are actions or events outside your control, and once you recognize you cannot control opinions, you will gain peace by not focusing on them.
