Epictetus: The Handbook Part 3

I think that Epictetus has some logical and selfless rules or ideas but some of the ideas seem very unreasonable and can't be done easily. Some ideas like the fact that you have to be humble and try to live a simple life is very good advice especially in present day. People take all their luxuries in life for granted and I think it would be very interesting to see them try to enforce those ways of life and see if they can religiously live that way.
50. Abide by whatever task1 is set before you as if it were a law, and as if you would be committing sacrilege if you went against it. But pay no attention to whatever anyone says about you, since that falls outside what is yours.

The quote 36. If you undertake some role beyond your capacity, you both disgrace yourself by taking it and also thereby neglect the role that you were unable to take. seems very restricting to me because it doesn't motivate you to push yourself. It implies that you should only take up a task that you know you can successfully complete. It seems a bit contradictory to previous statements since he encourages people to try their hardest but I think that if you try to work towards an almost impossible goal with all you will and force it shouldn't really matter if you succeed or not. This statement is not letting people develop their full potential and it is quotes like these that make me dissagree with Epiectetus' theories.