PHILOSOPHY - Epicurus
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PHILOSOPHY
EPICURUS
This is a philosopher who helps us think about money,
capitalism and our run-away consumer societies.
Epicurus was an Ancient Greek born in
341 BC. What made him famous was that
he spent all his life trying to work out the largest puzzle there is:
What makes people happy? Philosophers before him
had discussed at length what could make people good.
Epicurus preferred to look it was fun.
Unfortunately the world was bitter and bitchy even then
and when people heard that Epicurus had set up a school
to study happiness, the rumors went off the scale
There were tales that the school hosted ten course feasts
and orgies every night.
Epicurus was said by one critic to've orgasmed eighteen times on a single evening
in a bed filled with virgins! It wasn't true.
Epicurus and his team WERE studying happiness
but they were doing it very soberly.
The philosopher owned only two cloaks and lived on bread, olives
and for a treat an occasional slice of cheese.
As for the bedroom he merely responded demurely
that he'd married philosophy. Having patiently studied
happiness for many years Epicurus came to a set of remarkable
and revolutionary conclusions about what we actually need
to be happy. He proposed that we typically make three
mistakes when thinking about happiness.
Firstly, we think happiness means having romantic sexual
relationships. But Epicurus looked around and saw
so many unhappy couples, the unions
marked by jealousy, misunderstanding, cheating and bitterness.
At the same time he observed how much nicer friendships are,
How people tend to be so decent and unpossessive with their friends.
Friendship seemed to be where human nature was at its sweetest
The only problem Epicurus noted
was that we don't see our friends enough.
The next thing we ordinarily think we need to be happy
is a lot of money. But we tend not properly to factor in
unbelievable sacrifices we're going have to make to get this money:
the jealousy, the backbiting, the long hours.
What make work really satisfying Epicurus believed
isn't money but when we're able to work alone
or in small groups like at a bakery or boot repair shop
and when we feel we're helping others and in our
own minor way improving the world. It
isn't really large sums or status that we want
deep down. It's a sense of making a difference. And lastly
Epicurus observed how obsessed we are with
luxury, especially involving houses and beautiful serene
locations. But beneath our love of luxury there is really something
else we try to get out. What we want
is a feeling of calm. We want our minds pure,
free, not full of a normal bothering
chaos. Great question is does luxury actually make us calm?
Epicurus wasn't so sure.
Having looked at happiness in depth Epicurus
announced revolutionary set of insights.
That you really need only three things to be
happy in this life. Firstly, you need your friends
around. No sex, no orgies, just your mates.
Enough of seeing them only now and then - it's
regularity of contact that counts.
So he did that thing that most of us occasionally dream of doing
but never actually get around to. He bought a big house and started
living with all his friends. Everyone at their own quarters
and there were pleasant shared areas too. There was
always someone nice to talk to in the kitchen. Secondly
everyone downshifted. All the members of the commune stop working
for other people. They took big pay cuts
in return for doing their own stuff: some did farming,
some cooking, some pottery or writing.
And thirdly Epicurus and his friends stopped thinking you could be calm
just by having a beautiful view to look out on.
They devoted themselves to finding calm in their own minds.
Through spending time on their own, reflecting, writing
stuff down, reading things, meditating.
The experiment was so successful, the member of the commune
so happy, the idea spread like wild fire.
Epicurean communities
opened up all around Mediterranean. At the height
of the movement 400 000 people living in communes from Spain
to Palestine. It was only the Christian church
that ended things in a 5th century. But they
must have respected the community somehow cause they
converted them all into monasteries. What we know is monasteries
are really just Epicurean communes with the Christian topsoil.
Another interesting fact: Karl Marx in his PhD thesis
on Epicurus and what we call communism
that gigantic, dour, joyless, fail system
is really a grown up, corrupted, not very successful
version of Epicureanism.
The real legacy of Epicurus is that human beings
aren't very good of making themselves happy.
Chiefly because they think it's so easy. We think we know it's about sex,
money, luxury - we just want to have and secure all these.
But no, says Epicurus. Reflect on the moments that
truly bring you happiness and they aren't to do
with these. Have the courage to change your life in accordance with the
moments that actually deliver satisfaction.
You might end up living in a very different way:
out in the country, with just some cheese and couple of cloaks,
few philosophy books and some very good friends
down the corridor.