2nd Installment: Epicurus and Happiness

             

         Happiness is one of the most important parts of philosophy.  It was practiced and taught by many philosophers and writers throughout history, like Frederic Nietzsche, Aristotle, and Henry David Thoreau.  Who else comes to mind though?  Socrates?  Plato?  Immanuel Kant?  How about Epicurus?  For those of you who are unaware of who he is (although I’m sure we’ve all heard of him in this course), Epicurus was a Greek philosopher born in 341 BC who founded the school of philosophy known as Epicureanism and formed the Pleasure Garden, a place where he, his friends, and students congregated and lived together.  I remember Epicurus from my previous semester in my Intro To Philosophy course, and I instantly began to identify with his views.  

            He teaches his followers to seek only simple pleasures in life and the friendship of others.  For him, the most pleasant life is “one where we abstain from unnecessary desires and achieve an inner tranquility (ataraxia) by being content with simple things, and by choosing the pleasure of philosophical conversation with friends over the pursuit of physical pleasures like food, drink, and sex”.  I certainly identify with this; to be happy, we don’t need expensive items, fancy buffets, and sex (although I’m certain many would disagree with me on that!).  Personally, a good conversation with friends on my back porch with an Angry Orchard is good enough for me.  Or I could converse without the drink!  Regardless, I can be happy without fancy things like the new iPhone or the latest Yeezys.  Like his predecessors Aristotle and Plato, Epicurus says that we all desire happiness, and that all other things desired are the means towards obtaining happiness.  He once wrote his definition of happiness as:

“Pleasure is our first and kindred good. It is the starting point of every choice and of every aversion, and to it we always come back, inasmuch as we make feeling the rule by which to judge of every good thing.”

            Epicurus also believed that we make out lives unhappy with the belief that a god(s) will punish us for our misdeeds, and that death is something we all must fear.  This is because these beliefs produce fear and anxiety inside us and thus prohibits us from obtaining happiness.  To Epicurus, the gods don’t concern themselves directly with mortals, as they are eternal, perfect beings.  On death, he once wrote, “Death is meaningless to the living because they are living, and meaningless to the dead… because they are dead.”  This, too, I can agree with, as many of us are terrified of dying tomorrow or a month from now.  I’d rather be more concerned with being able to see friends than when I’m going to kick the bucket.  I know many people from back home in West Tennessee who are God-fearing Christians, and while it’s good that they have a belief in God, they seem too focused on His might.  They’re too focused on when God will strike them down than to continue to be happy with their own lives.  To them, I say don’t worry about it!  Focus on what’s going on around you and not what’s above your heads.  Jesus taught us to be happy with our neighbors, and thus we should.

            Do you agree with this?  Perhaps instead of texting emojis to each other on the new expensive iPhones, why not start an actual conversation with somebody?  Instead of playing the latest Call Of Duty on your gaming console, go outside and take a walk.  Don’t worry about what’s going to happen to you tomorrow or next week.  Focus on the simple things in life, and always be friendly.  Always talk with your friends, preferably in person!  This is what Epicurus taught centuries ago, and his lessons survive to this day.  While modern Epicureanism seeks any/all pleasures in both simple and complex forms (i.e. good food, nice clothes, etc.), all Epicurus wanted was a cheerful mindset and a good conversation with good friends.

 

1st Installment: http://philoshap.blogspot.com/2017/12/music-happiness-latham-crihfield.html

Source: http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/epicurus/

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