Greenblatt on the Epicurean Lucretius and the Epicurean Jefferson
Stephen Greenblatt, the author of “The Swerve” talking about the Epicurean attitude to pleasure, about Lucretius’s poem and about the Epicurean Thomas Jefferson in an interview with Charlie Rose:
the full interview (23 min): http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11977
a 5 minutes cut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DOv4KPkUDY
Epicurean Belief System and Conduct of Life
After my lecture on Epicureanism I was asked whether I think that Epicureanism is going to spread again. My answer was two pronged:
In the broad sense there are millions, and maybe billions, of part time unwitting Epicureans spread all over the world.
I call part time unwitting Epicureans all those who don’t know much or anything about Epicurus and his teachings but share, for the most part, the Epicurean belief system and behave most of the time as you’d expect an Epicurean to behave, i.e. they
- think, talk and work honestly
- manage their households rationally
- tend to communal self-sufficiency
- contribute to the sustenance of their smaller or larger communities
- try to make the best out of their lives without harming others
- refuse the use of force and coercion in spreading their ideas
- are tolerant with others’ world views and lifestyles
- do not believe in the force of destiny or supernatural powers
- accept the validity of scientific methods and results
- are reliable and committed friends, partners, parents, coworkers
- are friendly with their friends and polite with everyone else
- respect the written and unwritten laws of the country where they live
- base their interactions on the principles of mutuality and contractuality
In the narrow sense, however, there are no full time practicing Epicureans that I know of, as of 2011. There are no Epicurean schools, no Epicurean education system and no Epicurean communities to teach, practice and cultivate a communal Epicurean conduct of life.
As a member of a long time dormant Italian Epicurean mailing list I was pleasantly surprised these days to see that the members started naming the places where they live and whether they are able and/or willing to host Epicureans so that they can get to know each other personally.
This initiative could even develop one day into something like the Pasporta Servo (Passport Service, the hospitality service for Esperantists) as soon as the Epicureans develop something like a consciously practiced common culture (and choose a common language to interact with Epicureans coming from another linguistic background.)
buy nothing days as exercise for freedom
I have just read an interesting interview Jules Evans did way back in 2002 with Kalle Lasn, the founder of Adbusters, which is a Vancouver-based collective of ‘culture jammers’, and the inventors of Buy Nothing Day:
http://www.politicsofwellbeing.com/2011/06/kalle-lasn-founder-of-adbusters-on.html?spref=fb
Ancient Epicureans had up to 30 “buy nothing days” a month. Even wealthy Roman Epicureans reserved 3-7 days a month for austerity: they slept on the hard floor and ate only bread and drank only water. The sense of this exercise was to keep up their faith in the doctrine that what [is thought by most people as] hard is in fact easy to put up with. It showed them that they can be happy without their belongings, supplies and services – a state pretty often achieved in cases when the emperor wanted their property for his friends and exiled them.
I had periods in my life when I had to live on extremely meager resources and I can say that this fact never affected my mental well being. Even if I don’t need to convince myself of this fact I still keep a bread-and-water day every now and then, just as a reminder of one of the techniques of stress-FREEDOM.
I am proud of my friends
I don’t believe pride is an emotion anybody should be proud of experiencing if
“pride is an inward directed emotion that exemplifies either a high sense of one’s personal status or ego (i.e., leading to judgments of personality and character) or the specific mostly positive emotion that is a product of praise or independent self-reflection.” (Wikipedia)
Especially Epicureans should be ashamed of it and work hard at getting rid of it as soon as possible since its ugly head indicates an over-inflated ego or a dangerous vulnerability to praise. If independent self-reflection should lead to pride one ought to improve one’s self-reflective skills. Urgently.
I can’t help feeling proud of my friends, though.
It took me over forty years to understand that I don’t understand the correlation between my needs, my desires and the way I satisfy those desires, resulting in stressing myself, my friends and family, my coworkers and supervisors, clients and suppliers. It took me another five years to read all the relevant books on Epicurean life techniques and happiness studies to work my way out of the jungle and another five years to hone my tools by using them to set people free of their self-defeating beliefs and unhealthy habits and help them dismantle the walls they build between themselves and their pathway to happiness through congruence and stress-FREEDOM. It took me another year and the invaluable support of my wife to write a wise AND funny book for those who are interested in spending the rest of their lives walking toward their own happiness instead of working for their own or someone else’s greed.
My friends, however, must have been born wise and don’t seem to need the distilled fruits of hard-earned practical wisdom packed in nicely wrapped palatable pieces of advice. They must be champions in analyzing their desires, in satisfying their natural needs through synergistic satisfiers, in keeping their lifestyle and behavior patterns in line with their values and attitudes, serenely threading down their own proven pathways from pain to pleasure, producing their own happiness though congruence and stress-FREEDOM.
I must assume they do all this judging from the absence of their comments on the excerpts of my book that I have been publishing in sequels in my blog. The only topic they mildly reacted to was sequel 15: “How Is It Possible To Find Romantic Love? “
Complete strangers ask me when will my book be available in print and on kindl, when will I start training and coaching sessions on the Galenian Epicurean Conduct of Life, or at least publicly speak about it. (Which I don’t’ know yet. I still have to take care of my health and the happiness of my family.)
But it’s a relief that my friends are doing well, confidently threading their own pathways toward happiness.( Or what they believe is happiness?)
It’s a shame to feel proud but who could help not being proud of them? (Maybe Epicurus?)
Take-Aways From the Chapter ‘Desires’ (PP26)
Here’s sequel 26 of my Epicurean Happiness Guidance “From Pain to Pleasure: The Proven Pathway to Happiness” (from Chapter 3: DESIRES)
Take-Aways From Desires
- We need to debate with ourselves the pros and cons, short-term and long-term, when faced with a decision whether or not to fulfill a desire.
- Frequently, satisfying a desire has consequences for others and should be carefully considered.
- There is usually a difference between needs and desires. However, sometimes the distinction becomes a little blurry, which should not be a cause for concern.
To read my complete Epicurean Happiness Guidance “From Pain to Pleasure: The Proven Pathway to Happiness” go to http://stressfreedomguide.com/
What would you do? (PP25)
Here’s sequel 25 of my Epicurean Happiness Guidance “From Pain to Pleasure: The Proven Pathway to Happiness” (from Chapter 3: DESIRES)
What would you do?
Newlyweds Scrimp and Save must decide whether to design and build their own custom home or purchase an existing home that is not quite what they want. If they start from scratch and build their home, they would need to find a place to live while they wait for it to be finished. They treasure their new-found privacy and independence after graduating college, so they are seriously considering renting a small apartment for the possibly four-to six-month period. There are a few drawbacks to this idea, however.
- One, they would need to ask Save’s parents, who are retired, to keep their dog, which could be an inconvenience to them and prevent the young couple from being with their dog as much as they would like.
- Two, their rent payment could go instead towards the new furnishings they would like to have in their new home.
They do have an alternative: Scrimp’s parents have offered to house the newlyweds in their finished basement, rent-free. This arrangement would eliminate the dog problem and help them save a considerable amount of money, but there would be several drawbacks:
- A lack of privacy
- The need to endure several months of second-hand smoke
- A potentially awkward living situation, and
- The necessity of living out of boxes for the duration of their stay.
Or they can avoid all of these conflicting desires by purchasing an existing home to live in for a few years until other options present themselves.
Their options are to:
- Deny their desire for privacy and live with Save’s parents so they can tend to their dog and save money for a long-term goal;
- Live more comfortably in a small apartment while indulging the interests of most newlyweds and agreeing to postpone purchases needed for their new home.
- Buy a less-than-ideal house.
To read my complete Epicurean Happiness Guidance “From Pain to Pleasure: The Proven Pathway to Happiness” go to http://stressfreedomguide.com/
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