Open Letter To Robert Frost By Epictetus

Mr. Robert Frost,

I read your poem "The Road Not Taken" and I believe we both agree that free will exists. The difference between you and I, is the life we were given. Your role in the play of life was the one of a Harvard student, who obtained immediate success in life. I, on the contrary, spent my youth as a slave. I later obtained my freedom and started teaching philosophy in Rome.

The conceptions we have of free will are quite different. I understand there are things that are up to us, and others that aren't. We should not spend time in the ones that are not up to us, because this will make us misfortunate beings. We don't decide what role to play in life but we do decide how well we play it. Free will consists of understanding what we can and can't control. Once you understand this, you may have the free will to decide how you act upon events.

You mention in your poem there are two roads we can take:

"TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both"

This disagrees with my philosophy. I believe choosing a road to walk in is not up to us. But we do have the free will to decide how we want to walk through the path we are given.

It is clear we have our differences when it comes to free will. You believe there is always a choice. According to your poem, the choices we make, lead us to new decisions:

"Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back."

As I said before, we approach things differently because of our different life styles. Your philosophy is valid for your life, and my philosophy is valid for the life I lived.

It's always refreshing to read a different point of view from my own. I encourage you to read my Handbook and tell me what you believe. I'll keep reading your works and writing you letters with my opinion.

Sincerely,

Epictetus

(Information about Frost and Epictetus' lives from wikipedia.)