Anchors Away!!

In Epictetus they suggest a very detached life. I talks about detachment from many things, personally I don't consider myself capable of doing so. "That is how it is in life too: if you are given a wife and a child instead of a vegetable and a small shellfish, that will not hinder you; but if the captain calls, let all those things go and run to the boat without turning back." This really makes me think how one can simply let go of these things. I guess that it matters how your priorities are set up in life, and in my case, it would be very hard because family is really high up on my list. I also wonder, in the analogy, what would the captain be in real life? It compares kids and wife with the vegetable and selfish but then what is that big power that calls and you have to answer? It really confuses me because it is kind of contradicting. It says not to depend on anything but then it says that one must answer the "captains call". I would really like to know who the captain is. It talks about the boat "being anchored" and about you running to avoid being "left behind." What do all these mean? The boat is what: Life? And then what, kids and family are just a detour? It talks about getting "fresh water", so what is that, like a rest? a rest from what? something new to try? Wouldn't it be unfair with your wife and kids? One day you just decide you want your old life back and leave them? except that I guess that if everyone followed Epictetus´s Handbook, then the kids and wife would also consider him just a "stop" and wouldn't really mind him leaving. I guess it would be a matter of perspective and the way in which people live so if we all follow Epictetus's way, then we all think of others as things that we are fond to but that nature can take away at any point. So I guess, we could all live his way, its a matter of getting used to it.