Selected Aphorisms #54

The fifty-fourth installment in our anatomically-irregular new series.

Epictetus says that, contrary to Socrates, “who perceived keenly his kinship with the gods,” we, the spiritually unwashed, “identify with our stomachs, guts, and genitals” — and are consequently more vulnerable to fear and desire and the like. Fiddle-faddle, I say. Anyone who’s ever caught a glimpse of them will know I’d be an absolute fool to identify with my genitals!