EPICURIANISM - The Philosophy of Happiness
"Chance has little effect upon the wise man, for his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life." - Principle Doctrine 16. Epicurus
Once the mind has been freed with reason, why not achieve what everyone naturally wants - HAPPINESS. Epicurus was the first major philosopher to tackle the question that all people grapple with: How do you achieve this elusive state of happiness in a world of suffering?
Epicureanism is unknowingly practiced as a dominant philosophy throughout the secular world.
It has lost its name and place as it's records were lost for centuries. Thomas Jefferson was an Epicurean and founded the United States based on the notions of natural freedoms of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Constitution.
Epicurus was the most prolific writer for Natural Philosophy that comes from the Greek thinkers.
Natural Philosophy was, in fact, the first study of science. It required proof for every intuition.
We don't really know what to call the philosophy of the secular age; but it's been around for 2300 years. The physics of Epicureanism may sound very modern. They believed everything was made of atoms and void. This belief came from Democritus who began Atomism.
Epicureanism dominated the world for about 800 years. It's books were burned by Emperor Justinian in the 5th century AD. It was not until 900 years later when the Black Death left Western Europe seeking a new philosophy that Europe first began looking to the ancient Greek records. Thomas Aquinas even revised a "Natural Theology" based on the writings of Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics. Here Aristotle describes the virtues as attainable by reason and reason was the basis of all virtues. Virtue was then readopted as a "Golden Mean of two extremes."
Many Epicurean books were rediscovered around that time including the De Rerum Natura (The Rules of Nature) and is considered to have kick-started the Enlightenment Period when people started asking logical questions as well as ones pertaining to happiness.
On the same island of Samos where Pythogoras began as the first major philosopher, Epicurus was born and posed the question on the nature of suffering and evil:
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Enlightenment, or what Epicurus called Ataraxia, could not be achieved by believing in Brahman or Zeus. The fear of these myths only causes more confusion than before. But, Epicurus and Buddha both agreed that the state of mind and it's confusion comes from ignorance, fear, and greed. However, Epicurus would argue that a belief in an after-life is ignorant and causes fear. (Also, see the section onEpicureanism and Buddhism differences.)
THE STATE OF EPICUREAN HAPPINESS - Ataraxia
Epicurus argued that there are 4 major goals to achieve to assist in finding our bliss. Each goal is accompanied by the strengths of character or virtues needed to achieve them. Virtues need to be developed by education, habit, and mindfulness.
Vices are simply a product of bad upbringing, bad education, and bad habits.
Everyone is born into suffering but can achieve bliss by developing the virtues.
Vices are a source of suffering for people and an Epicurean holds others in empathy.
The four Epicurean Goals are Health, Knowledge, Friends and Freedom.
EPICUREAN GOALS (and the Virtues needed to achieve them)
1.) Health
To reach the highest height of pleasure you must be healthy (aponia) and have tranquility (ataraxia).
"Pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of all sources of pain. When such pleasure is present, for as long as it lasts, there is no cause of physical nor mental pain present – nor of both together." - Epicurus (Principle Doctrine #3)
Virtues: Healthy living, Temperance, Gratefulness and Tranquility
2.) Freedom
In a complicated age of long work weeks and an endless list of items we imagine that we need, it is vital to remove yourself from a wage slave existence. No one wanting to live the life of a prudent philosopher can spend most of the day working for someone else. It is essential that you find a way to make a living as a self-guided entrepreneur working just enough to allow the time to seek out the virtues of life. Epicurus recognized that virtue stems from leisure. If you do not have the time for self-contemplation, you will not have time for self-ascendance.
"The greatest result of self-sufficiency is freedom." - Epicurus (Vatican Sayings 77).
Virtues: Self-Sufficiency, Prudence and Justice
3.) Knowledge
Knowledge of the natural causes leads to loss of fear of death and the gods. Neither have the power to steal away the tranquility of the radiant mind. A cosmic knowledge is empowering as it lends itself to more wonder and awe then any Sunday School story could tell.
"One cannot rid himself of his primal fears if he does not understand the nature of the universe but instead suspects the truth of some mythical story. So without the study of nature, there can be no enjoyment of pure pleasure." - Epicurus (Principle Doctrine 12)
Virtues: Curiosity and Prudence
4.) Friends
What is the purpose of a song that is not sung or artwork that is never seen? We are social creatures and flourish among like-minded friends. They are treasures that insure happiness through life's high and low spots.
"Of all things that wisdom provides for living one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship." - Epicurus (Principle Doctrine 27)
Virtues: Peacefulness, Prudence, Gratefulness, Kindness, Justice, Impartiality
EPICUREAN VIRTUES (Strengths of Character)
The goal of seeking out our happiness for Epicurus was not about seeking out fulfillment in sensory desire as much as limiting ourselves. Far from being what is portrayed as self-indulgent hedonism, Epicureanism promoted moderation and removing the sources of mental distress and physical pain.
According to naturalism, a rational and reasonable person takes their cues from what was learned from experience. The best and highest use of our life, it was argued, logically should be devoted to being happy and holding no partiality or anger towards others. This ethical framework was revisited in the 19th century by Jeremy Bentham and John Stewart Mills in a concept known as Utilitarianism. It forms the basis of a modern economic logic called Cost Benefit Analysis. Finding the best way means considering all costs necessary to achieve a goal.
"It is impossible to live pleasantly without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living pleasantly."
- (Epicurus, Principle Doctrine 5)
"Enjoy what you have and remember that they were among the things you used to desire."
As pleasure is consequence of an Epicurean life, there is no "commandment" to obey any of the virtues necessary to achieve bliss. The only punishment of a life ensnared by vice is pain and anxiety - the opposite of health and tranquility. The virtues are thus offered only as suggestions. It is up to the prudent person to make their own choices. An Epicurean will hold no judgment against you. You are the author of your own destiny and have the option of living out a life of health and tranquility.
-EPICUREAN VIRTUES (strengths of character)-
1.) Be Healthy.
No philosophy would be grounded in logic if you cannot observe the most basic responsibility you have: caring for the very body that we experience life in. Before you can even start to think about kindness or even use your higher faculties, you must be alive and well! To be healthy in the context of Epicurean philosophy takes the term Aponia. This literally means "no pain of body."
Self-preservation follows the most basic law of nature. This is why it is first and foremost on the virtues any wise person follows. Clearly, a reasonable person would not inflict harm upon themselves. Likewise, by virtue of his love of life would not want to bring harm maliciously against anyone else. A species always at war with itself will perish. Love is natural.
To achieve a state of Health (Greeks called it Aponia) we do so with a nutritious diet and fun exercises that keep us vital. Excessive risks that might bring more pain then pleasure are to be avoided. A healthy philosopher is the happiest philosopher. He will promote his ideals through his actions and appearance.
"Pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of all sources of pain.
When such pleasure is present, for as long as it lasts, there is no cause
of physical nor mental pain present." Principle Doctrine #3
2.) Be Tranquil
Once you have insured your health is preserved, no philosophy would make any sense if you have not controlled the mind. A Zen Buddhist would have called this a state of Mindfulness. To an Epicurean, it was called Ataraxia. Next to the pain of body, the next suffering identified by Epicurus was pain of the mind. The cure was CLEAR thinking. Using a four-part remedy, called the Tetrapharmacon, one could remedy their mental confusion by daily repeating the following lines :
"Fear no gods. Fear not death. Pleasure is easy to procure. Suffering is easy to endure."
For Epicurus, for true tranquility to exist, you had to be free of any false beliefs you might have to give you fear of either nature or beliefs in the supernatural.
Tranquility was also state of free from anger and judgment of other people.
It required a true philosopher to be impartial and indifferent to the masses.
Tranquility allows us the serenity to accept the facts we cannot change. We are tourists given a brief chance as rational creatures to flourish in whatever time and place we find ourselves in.
Be of this place as a traveler and obey the laws. They cannot be changed.
It's the internal governance of our mind we need to be a master of.
"A Sage neither has trouble itself nor does it cause trouble for anyone else; therefore, it does not experience feelings of anger or indebtedness, for such feelings signify weakness." Principle Doctrine #1
"I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know." Epicurus quote from Seneca - Moral letters to Lucilius
3.) Be Curious.
This is a strength of character that insures we will become educated by exercising our free will.
Knowledge, one of the four principle goods, can only be found if you want to find it.
If you are not curious about something, you would not study it.
Curiosity is the mother of knowledge.
"If we were never curious by how phenomena in the sky or death might concern us, or by our failures to grasp the limits of pains and desires, we would have no need to study nature." Principle Doctrine #11
4.) Be Temperate.
The virtue of Temperance is common ground for almost every known religion. Far from being a doctrine of unfettered sensory desire, Epicureanism promoted the virtue of moderation and plain living. The basic needs for survival are easy to achieve. We don't need more than necessary.
Temperance is the first virtue of the 4 ancient Cardinal Virtues of Pythagoras. Temperance simply means SELF-CONTROL. If we are as healthy as an Olympian athlete, have a Masters in Cosmology but have no control over ourselves, we have not achieved Ataraxia, nor proven ourselves as virtuous philosophers. No reasonable person would be out control of themselves. Obesity, drug addiction and hostility are all clear indicators of a person who has clearly lost their way.
“that indulgence which prevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater pain, is to be avoided.”Principle Doctrine #8
"When we say, then, that pleasure is the end and aim we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do by some through ignorance, prejudice, or willful misrepresentation. By pleasure we mean the absence of pain in the body and trouble in the soul. It is not an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not sexual love, not the enjoyment of the fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of the soul." Letter to Menoeceus
5.) Be Impartial
A rational person would not loose his tranquility making judgments about another's character.
If they inflict us with no pain, they are of no disturbance. Leave nature to ridicule the errors of another person's folly. But, remain fully in control of your own mind to protect it against the folly of prejudice.
"A Sage neither has trouble itself nor does it cause trouble for anyone else; therefore, it does not experience feelings of anger or indebtedness, for such feelings signify weakness." Principle Doctrine #1
6.) Be Kind
"For all living creatures incapable of making agreements not to harm one another, nothing is ever just or unjust; and so it is likewise for all tribes of men which have been unable or unwilling to make such agreements." Principle Doctrine #32
7.) Be Grateful
When we consider the long evolutionary road we have come from, you cannot help but feel the pleasure of gratitude. As we are the Universe waking up, we should look back at our history and be reminded of our humble beginnings and exalt in the thinking/feeling beings that we have become.
A person who is grateful is one who truly has become aware of the grandeur of the cosmos and how we are intimately connected to all things. Gratefulness is the state of a satisfied mind. (also read William Edelen's essay on Wonder.)
8.) Be Just
"Natural justice is the advantage conferred by mutual agreements not to inflict nor allow harm." Principle Doctrine 31
9.) Be Prudent
If there is anything that separates us from other animals, it is our innate ability to reason. A rational and reasonable person will only use the information provided to the senses to form an opinion. If your opinions cannot be changed by reality, your belief is not based on anything in reality. (Also see blog on Realism.)
"The foundation of morality is to … give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence , and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibilities of knowledge."
- T. H. Huxley
"Absence of evidence does not prove evidence of absence." - Carl Sagan
"We must consider the ultimate goal to be real, and reconcile our opinions with sensory experience; otherwise, life will be full of confusion and disturbance." Principle Doctrine 22
"Chance has little effect upon the wise man, for his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life." Principle Doctrine 16
10.) Be Self-Sufficient
Epicurus called this virtue Autarky. In order to liberate the mind to think, we need to free the body from the constant demands of a wage slave existence. A liberated mind requires all the needs of the body to be met. A better word for this is Entrepreneurship. This is a condition where the true philosopher no longer depends on another for his survival.
"That natural benefit of kingship and high office is (and only is) the degree to which they provide security from other men."Principle Doctrine 6
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