Buddha, Epictetus, Vonnegut

I think this text not only has correlations to Slaughterhouse Five, but to Buddhism as well. One of the main aspects of Buddhism is to avoid suffering. Vonnegut escapes his suffering by turning to the 4th dimension. Epictetus creates guidelines by which we can avoid certain forms of suffering.
All of these, I believe, represent a very cynical way of thinking about the world. Instead of talking about the world in a way which highlights its happy attributes, these texts show that the world is full of sorrow and suffering.