Many people think that adopting an epicurean lifestyle entails living a hedonistic dolce vita and indulging in a life of pleasure. However, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher, did not exactly have that in mind. The exact opposite. In this article, we’ll define an epicurean lifestyle and explain how it can bring peace and serenity into your life.
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Not just Epicurus, but other ancient Greeks who were not philosophers also believed that romantic relationships between men and women might be overwhelming or terribly painful, and everything in between, which would take away from one’s ability to be at peace. Although Epicurus himself had nothing against pleasure, many Greeks of his time found the idea of being married for love to be unusual. You got married to start a family. Romantic love emerged significantly later in the history of the West. If you fell in love, your emotions might range from euphoria and exquisite bliss to disappointment and the anguish of loss in a matter of seconds. Simply put, it was too upsetting, took over your life, and might lead to resentment, misunderstandings, and a raging quarrel.
Greeks have always been relatively relaxed back people. It appears to run in their family. In a land with scant resources but plenty of sunshine, life has always been difficult. It is no surprise that that is where the concept of tranquility first emerged. They reasoned that having male friends who (might?) start arguments but are less passionate would be preferable. The same causes led Epicurus to issue similar warnings against passionate love and politics.
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Meaning and definition of “Epicurean”
Read more: 17 Life Lessons from Epicurus on Love and Marriage!
Epicurean philosophy emphasizes pleasure as the primary objective of life and is based on the ideas of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who flourished between 341 and 270 BC. The primary goal of pleasure back then was to prevent pain and suffering. Contrary to popular opinion, Epicurus was more interested in mental pleasures than physical ones. He opposed fabricated urges that were intended to be repressed if we wanted to be happy. Although Epicurus believed that sex was natural, he also opposed intense love and marriage. The philosopher preferred reasonable life to overindulgence and found delight in it. He believed that in order to find happiness, we must first set limits on our wants.
Life Lessons from Epicurus
The two categories of pleasure that Epicurus distinguished were pleasures of the body and pleasures of the mind. While physical pleasures (such as eating and having sex) are fleeting, mental pleasures—such as happiness, a lack of anxiety, and pleasant memories—are lasting and exist in the past, present, and future. The pleasures of the intellect are valued higher because they stay longer. The Epicureans further distinguished between katastematic pleasure, which is a state free of pain, and kinetic pleasure, which requires action.
For an Epicurean, the full elimination of all pain is the height of pleasure. Because of this, the aponia, or entire absence of physical suffering, and ataraxia, or total absence of mental pain, are the ends of the Epicurean philosophy. A person would have to restrain and control desires that were perceived as the cause of suffering in order to do that. A person will experience both aponia and ataraxia when their passions are under control.
Desires and a Pain Relief
The philosopher Epicurean identified three categories of desires:
Everyone has natural and essential desires that cannot be avoided, such as those that are necessary for happiness, for survival, and, lastly, for the absence of physiological discomfort.
Then there are natural but unnecessary cravings, such as the urge to devour delectable cuisine. They are accepted as normal, but they are not vital for happiness or survival as you can get by on bland food as well. They ought to be avoided because of this.
The Epicureans saw certain desires as empty and vain. those things, like fame or fortune, that are not essential for wellbeing or happiness. They should be avoided as well because they simply cause issues and discomfort. We must concentrate on the first group of natural and necessary desires in order to achieve aponia and ataraxia. Living simply and concentrating solely on what is required will result in the highest level of enjoyment, according to Epicurus.
Epicurus provides us with a four-part treatment for pain and joylessness that he refers to as the “tetrapharmakos”. The phrase originally referred to a medication that might be taken to treat illness. Followers of Epicurean offer a four-step process for overcoming anxiety, trepidation, or despair.
- “God is nothing to fear,
- Death is nothing to worry about,
- It is easy to acquire the good things in life,
- It is easy to endure terrible things”.
Because fear of death and fear of the gods were considered to be the primary causes of life’s sorrow, Epicurus believed that overcoming these fears was essential to leading a happy life. Although pain cannot entirely be avoided, it may be tolerated, and we can even attempt to find enjoyment while we are in agony, according to the Epicurean philosophy.
What does Epicurus have to say about contemporary living?
Though Epicureanism originated thousands of years ago, its principles still have relevance to our contemporary way of life. The Greek philosopher advises us to put more emphasis on basic needs rather than equating happiness with cravings for things like wealth and fame. We should adopt a minimalist lifestyle and purge ourselves and our surroundings of clutter and pointless goods. However, letting go of undue concern and expectations is just as crucial.
Read more: What Does Stoicism Says About Love and the Best Stoicism Love Quotes!
Epicureanism asserts that we cannot find joy in money by instructing its adherents that our desires will not bring us joy if we overwork to get things we do not need. Instead than focusing on accumulating wealth, we should prioritize friendship, mindfulness, meditation, moderation, learning to handle criticism, and other important aspects of life.
For instance, if you put too much effort into buying a home, you can find that you don’t like it at all since it makes you think about all the work you put into it. Therefore, it is preferable to live simply and just spend what is necessary. Reduce your anxiety of the future by saving money for retirement and rainy days. Remember that Epicureans believed that since suffering is a natural component of the human experience, we can never completely avoid it. Pain may occasionally be required to create pleasure. However, leading a happy and peaceful life while maintaining a good outlook and keeping things simple will provide us happiness.
Epicurus’s Sayings for a Happy Life: Philosophical
These quotations from Epicurus highlight his ideas on friendship, philosophy, death, and other topics. Greek philosopher Epicurus created Epicureanism in opposition to Plato’s prevailing ideas.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Epicurus was more progressive and let women to attend his school, “The Garden.” His core message was that happiness could only be attained via self-sufficiency and being surrounded by those who matter to you.
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These Epicurus quotations particularly resonate with me because I totally concur with his concept. Because Epicurus’ ideas were counter to those of the first Christians, he generated some debate.
He advocated letting rid of the notion of divine intervention and suffering in order for humanity to experience peace and liberation. He also held the view that suffering in the afterlife was a myth and that death marked the end of existence.
1. “The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.” ― Epicurus
2. “It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as far as death is concerned, we men live in a city without walls.” ― Epicurus
3. “Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.” ― Epicurus
4. “Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not coming, and, when death is coming, we are not. ” ― Epicurus
5. “Some men spend their whole life furnishing for themselves the things proper to life without realizing that at our birth each of us was poured a mortal brew to drink.” ― Epicurus
6. “To eat and drink without a friend is to devour like the lion and the wolf.” ― Epicurus
7. “It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.” ― Epicurus
8. “We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.” ― Epicurus
9. “Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.” ― Epicurus
10. “The noble man is chiefly concerned with wisdom and friendship; of these, the former is a mortal good, the latter an immortal one.” ― Epicurus
11. “You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” ― Epicurus
12. “The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it.” ― Epicurus
13. “He who least needs tomorrow will most gladly greet tomorrow.” ― Epicurus
14. “He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.” ― Epicurus
15. “Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.” ― Epicurus
16. “Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.” ― Epicurus
17. “Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.” ― Epicurus
Epicurus: Pleasure, Happiness
Although most of Epicurus’ works on ethics and happiness have been lost, his fundamental principles are lucidly stated in his justly well-known Letter to Menoeceus. He starts off with a point that Plato and Aristotle are known for making: that we all desire happiness as a goal in and of itself, and that all other things are desired as means of achieving happiness. But what exactly is joy? With the help of Aristippus, a student of Socrates and the creator of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, Epicurus provides a simple definition:
“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.”
Then, according to Epicurus, two self-imposed beliefs are the main causes of our life being sad or painful. The first is that we shall be punished by the gods for our sins, and the second is that we should be afraid of dying. Due to the fact that both of these ideas are founded on fictions, they are absolutely useless and cause worry and anxiety. The gods do exist, but because they are perfect and eternal, they are not very interested in human matters. As a result, we don’t need to worry about being punished by them or waste time performing time-consuming religious rituals. He makes the observation that when conscious experience ends, there will be no more feeling of suffering. The fear of dying is therefore totally unfounded. When he writes, “Death is meaningless to the living because they are living, and meaningless to the dead… because they are dead,” he does in fact sound oddly like a Zen teacher.
Conclusion
Epicurus makes the following claims about human happiness:
- Happiness is Pleasure; all things are to be done for the sake of the pleasant feelings associated with them
- False beliefs produce unnecessary pain; among them, that the gods will punish us and that death is something to be feared.
- There are necessary and unnecessary desires. Necessary desires, like desiring to be free from bodily pain, help in producing happiness, whereas unnecessary desires, like desiring a bigger car or a more luxurious meal, typically produce unhappiness.
- The aim is not the positive pursuit of pleasure but rather the absence of pain, a neutral state he calls “ataraxia,” which is freedom from all worry, often translated simply as “inner tranquility.”
- This state of ataraxia can be achieved through philosophical contemplation rather than through pursuit of crass physical pleasures.
- Happiness is not a private affair: it can be more readily achieved in a society where like-minded individuals band together to help inspire one another’s pursuit of happiness.
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