-          first: if happiness consists of the fulfilling of human possibilities then there must be broadly applicable rules for attaining it.

-          second: in this case we can “learn happiness”  by following these rules.

They stressed rather the process and not one or the other event.  A happy life meant for them a contented life a life lived in harmony with their values and tastes. The core elements of happiness were:

- inner peace and freedom (in the sense of not being disturbed by passions)

- physical and psychological independence

How did they achieve this state?

The ancient Greeks strongly believed in practice: “everything is practice” – they used to say. Philosophers ran in fact “happiness schools” to train the mind of their students. They believed that insight helped only when people were trained to apply it. Their goal was to form the student’s character so that he would live a happier and more balanced life. The key was the purposeful repetition of certain experiences.

The central thought of classical philosophy about happiness is today still valid and corroborated by modern science, especially neurobiology: positive feelings are not a matter of destiny. We can and must strive for them.

Do not confuse this concept of happiness with the modern – and unrealistic – idea interpreting it as a pleasure without a history and without costs.

You can find the results of modern scientific research on happiness in Stefan Klein’s book: The science of happiness. http://www.stefanklein.info/en/index_en.html

See also: http://www.gluecksformel.de/links.html – lots of relevant links, most of them in German but some also in English

the full interview (23 min):  http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11977

a 5 minutes cut:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DOv4KPkUDY

My atypical moles were no rats but “dysplastic nevi”: benign moles that may resemble melanoma. People who have them are at increased risk of developing single or multiple melanomas, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer:  http://www.skincancer.org/dysplastic-nevi-atypical-moles.html

Fortunately, melanoma can be one of the easiest cancers to find, and one of the easiest to cure if found and removed early. (If allowed to progress to the point where it spreads to other sites, the forecast is very poor. More than 8,000 melanoma deaths now occur per year, which is five times less than the number of fatal car accidents in the US.)

My atypical moles were found, identified and excised before they could turn from benign to malign.

The cute little buggers can’t even dream of molesting my fair skin any more: their atypical mole stations have been irreversibly removed.

and ends his theory with the words: „welcome to the electronic village”.

What kind of a village may he have envisaged, with no commitments, and no accountability?

Female chacma baboons that maintain close, lasting friendships live considerably longer than their peers who switch companions more frequently, a new study finds in ScienceNews

“There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.”   said Stephen Hawking in an interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News.

Hawking used the words “because it works”, rather than “because it is true”.  Determination of “truth” in any other way would require an ultimate authority, and ultimate authority is religion’s game.

In this context Epicureanism is more like science than religion: it did work for the decent, rational and reasonable middle class of the Roman Empire for 800 years just as well as it does for us today.

• • pain
  • a lack of control over environmental circumstances, such as food, housing, health, freedom
  • social issues such as social defeat, relationship conflict, deception, break-ups
  • major events such as birth, death, marriage, and divorce
  • life experiences such as poverty, unemployment, exams, deadlines

Why are these very common issues and experiences perceived by many as threats? If they are so common, why are we not appropriately prepared for them? Is our failure to cope with the most common issues not a result of the malfunction of those whose responsibility it is to prepare us for life? Have our parents, teachers, educators and counselors all failed us?

Epicurus, the founder of the Epicurean school of philosophy and happiness-boosting life conduct, suffered all his life from a bladder pain that finally killed him. This fact, however, did not interfere with his pursuit of happiness, even though they had no pain relief medicines in 271 BCE.

So what was Epicurus’s secret?  His “four-part cure,” in Greek “tetrapharmakos,” can give us a hint:

Don’t fear the gods,
Don’t worry about death;
What is good is easy to get, and
What is terrible is easy to endure

But his anti-stress medicine could not be swallowed at once with a glass of water. His followers had to chew and digest it over many years in their communal educative life-schools. The effort must have been worthwhile since the Epicurean circles of friends flourished over 800 years from 300 BCE till 500 CE.

So how was Epicurus’s stress-prevention program practiced?

The Epicureans did not give up their possessions as the Pythagoreans did, since that would have prevented them from generously sharing their resources with each other. They did not rebel against the state and its institutions, as the Cynics did, since they relied on the state to protect them in exchange for performing their duties as citizens. (Epicurus himself went to Athens for his two-year term of military service at the age of 18.) They did not plot against rulers or attempt revolutions, as the Platonists did, since they believed that the exercise of political power beyond the bounds of their own self-administrative communes endangered their peace of mind, necessary for a good life in freedom and happiness. For the same reason they did not participate in state affairs, as the Stoics did. They kept a low profile according to one of their principles: “lathe biosas,” in English,” live unobtrusively” or “unnoticed.”

This is what they did: The happiness-seekers lived together in communities where they could individually and collectively promote each others’ progress on their pathways from pain to pleasure. They studied intensively Epicurus’s therapeutical writings and memorized the most important precepts so they had them ready at hand the moment the specific philosophical-psychological pill was needed. They gave each other feedback on their progress and those who were more advanced helped the others in the way modern life-coaches and trainers do through lectures, discussions, conversations, and practical activities.

How  can an Epicurean lifestyle prevent each of life’s main “stressors”? Through the education and continuous practice of stress-busting, happiness-boosting attitudes towards all the issues related to pain, fear, frustration experienced today as social defeat, relationship conflict, deception, break-ups, births, deaths, divorce, poverty, unemployment, exams, and deadlines.

I will take up these issues individually and describe how Epicureans dealt with them over eight centuries and how we can deal with them today.

I have written an article on this issue entitled: ‘Proven Ancient Prevention against Modern Life’s  “Stressors”’ and submitted it to ezinearticles.com

• burn calories for you
• boosts your immune system
• lowers the risk of heart attack
• elevates your mood
• makes you look more beautiful AND
• no expiration date?

The solution to the puzzle is here:

http://www.babyboomerknowledgecenter.com/2009/12/working-outin-bed.html

Therefore I will just stick to my 2300 year old Epicurean principle: “mens sana in corpora sano”, i.e. to strive for “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

As I have never taken vaccine against any kind of flu (that  kills about 10,000 people in Germany every year, i.e. roughly twice as many as killed in raod accidents) so far and I will not make an exception for the swine flu either. The statistics do not support any call for action that would justify the loss in MH-ROI (mental health return on investment): my peace of mind, tranquility, stress-FREEDOM, ataraxia.

The vaccine against the swine flu is expensive, it may have unpleasant or even dangerous side effects. The vaccine against the swine flu or any other panic  generated by the media industry  is cheap, pleasant and available for each and all: good, old, proven practical Epicurean philosophy.