The Threat to the Essence of Life

When I was reading the first part of the introduction, and then the four first aphorisms of the Handbook of Epictetus, I was aware of the fact that Stoics believe that having no feelings or emotions is better because then you will not allow these uncontrollable emotions to reign you. However, I don’t agree with this basic philosophy. Although I can’t argue against the argument that emotions can not be controlled many times, and that they lead one to commit rash judgments and actions, I can argue against the statement that excluding these forces from one’s nature is a better way to live. What is life for? Why are we here? What are we supposed to do in life? These questions have been asked for thousands of years, and today they still cannot be answered. I believe, nonetheless, that when we are here and when life is given to us, we should maker the best out of it, we should be happy. Happiness is the top priority on my list, and it always will be. The reason for this is that it encompasses everything else: family, friends, love, health, and whatever else it is one would like to do. If one is happy, then I think that life is worth everything, all these unanswered questions vanish. Who cares why life exists as long as you are happy? If you can’t have feelings though, then happiness will not come. There is no way to feel really happy if you can’t feel love from others, if you can’t feel pride in accomplishing your ambitions, if you can’t feel sadness when something goes wrong. Life would become a big blur of actions and facts that had no meaning, and I personally believe that you can’t live a good life without emotions (as Stoics propose) because there wouldn’t be anything good about it. It would be a state rather than a reality. This is why I think that although eliminating some emotions from the realm of possible ones might be a good change to allow humans to focus more or to be better people, eliminating all feelings and all the variables in one’s disposition would endanger the very essence of life.