Question

Epictetus offered great advise on various matters. One of them was how you should not waste time worrying about things that are out of your hands. But on the concept of death, I don't think it can be that easy to detach and not be affected by it. He says "If you kiss your child or your wife, say that you only kiss things which are human, and thus you will not be disturbed if either of them dies." Death is a natural part of life out of our control and can happen at any moment. I think Epictetus had an optimistic view on how to cope with life and not get affected by things that happen naturally like death.

Answer 1

In Business Organizations, there are Life Cycles for business and does with that of Product. When the Product does not do well in the market, it either needs to be withdrawn from the market or refurbished and re-positioned in the market in a unique way. This is because although death is a natural phenomenon even in Business, the only way of keep going in life is to adjust ourselves accordingly. Unfortunately, humans cannot revive humans post death but in case of Business, products could possibly. However, the difficulty comes when dealing with the business life cycle. If the whole business activity fails, the Organization may actually cease to exist. This is where Epictetus’ optimistic view to cope with life and not getting influenced with the natural events make an entrepreneur and its Organization team sail through. There is a room of optimism needed certainly to start something afresh. When people die, the survivors and closed ones do get wounded but all the wounds are momentary. They are meant to get healed. Similarly, in Organizations, when closure of the same becomes inevitable, one needs to keep moving ahead to find the paths that can lead to something new and unsorted previously. That is how Epictetus’ advice could lead us positively and inspire us to cope with the hardest challenges of life.