PP6/ Fear of poverty
Here’s the sixth sequel of my Epicurean happiness guidance “From Pain to Pleasure: The Proven Pathway to Happiness” (PP6)
SLAVERY (6) >> LET’S PUT OUR FEARS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Fear of poverty
We often joke about being poor, making tongue-in-cheek statements about being a starving artist or a debt-laden student or professional who dresses up getting fired by saying “I’m exploring my options.” This kind of “poor” is relative; we’re comparing ourselves to others who are otherwise just like us.
The real poverty we fear is the state of having unmet basic needs, including a lack of decent housing, adequate nutrition, protection from cold, and access to health care and education; in short, the lower level needs described in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which we’ll delve into in the Needs segment. Unfortunately, having unsatisfied basic needs leads to a lack of dignity, self-esteem and respect. We need only to pay attention to news stories of suicides and homelessness among those who have been “down-sized,” sacked, or otherwise made jobless to recognize the truth in that statement.
Being unemployed on a long-term basis, becoming seriously ill and unable to work, losing one’s retirement benefits, enduring a family catastrophe, and seeing one’s life’s dream go up in smoke are certainly justifications for reasonable fear. The key is to turn the fear into action rather than letting it paralyze us. If you are already in a critical situation, find out what your options are regarding government aid; spruce up your resume, take advantage of retraining programs, employment counseling, and job fairs; contact your creditors to make payment arrangements; determine what types of loans, if any are available to you; and learn about the different options available for those on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s harder to feel like a victim if you are taking steps regularly.
It’s possible to cushion the blow of losing one’s income by making a plan and sticking to it: Set priorities, then list basic needs separately from non-essential needs and wants; and set aside three months’ wages or salary for emergencies
as quickly as possible (this means before covering those non-essential needs and wants you’ve listed, including magazine subscriptions, premium cable services, membership dues, restaurant dining, travel, designer clothing, new cars and daily lattes).
During Epicurus’s time, his friendship circles practiced living in poverty occasionally in order to remove the fear of it. We could practice going without
bountiful meals — for example, eating cheese sandwiches instead of beef or pork
— watching TV, driving cars and buying new clothes, books, video games and CDs. Chances are excellent that we would not only survive such an exercise, but may even find something to like about it!
Studies show that in general, people move in and out of poverty. If we understand that we may have the power to avoid it and the power to take action in the event poverty is on the horizon, fear is a useless commodity. Make that plan, follow it religiously, and
sleep well.
Proven Ancient Prevention against Modern Life’s “Stressors”
Stress is the consequence of the failure of an organism to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined. The most common “stressors” include:
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- 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.
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