The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus may
seem an unlikely figure to teach us how to
achieve a calm mind because of his reputation
as an indulgent pleasure-seeker.
Unfortunately, the teachings of Epicurus are
gravely misunderstood by many.
While it’s true that, according to Epicurus,
pleasure leads to happiness, his philosophy
leans much more to asceticism than to indulgence.
Within Epicurus’ teachings, we find a curious
recipe for reaching a state of ‘ataraxia’,
which can be translated as ‘equanimity’
or ‘tranquility’.
Unlike the Stoics, Epicurus wasn’t interested
in traditional virtues.
Instead, he believed that engaging in the
right amount of pleasure, given this is done
with wisdom and moderation, is the key to
a happy life.
This video explores how an Epicurean achieves
peace and calm.
What are the ingredients for a peaceful and
calm existence?
According to Epicurus, there are two things
that we need to do.
First, we need to manage our pleasures.
Secondly, we need to let go of groundless
fears that withhold us from achieving peace of mind.
But how do we do this?
Let's start with the first one:
(1) Manage your pleasures
The ethical side of Epicurus’ philosophy
revolves around pleasure.
A simple and modest definition of Epicurus’
pleasure is the absence of pain.
An absence of pain is not achieved by mindless
indulgence in whatever we deem pleasurable;
it requires a careful choreography of pleasure
and, thus, sufficient knowledge about pleasure.
Epicurus noticed that pleasures that we should
pursue lead to contentment, and do not involve pain.
He distinguished two types of pleasure: moving
pleasure and static pleasure.
Moving pleasures are pleasures that involve
an active stimulation of the senses, which
happens, for example, when we eat a bar of
chocolate.
Static pleasure is the feeling of contentment
that follows when our hunger is satisfied,
thus, the feeling of not needing anything more, and the absence
of the pain of hunger.
Static pleasure is the best form of pleasure
according to Epicurus.
And we can reach this pleasure by fulfilling
our natural desires of the things that are
necessary for survival.
Epicurus distinguished natural desires and
vain desires.
Natural desires can be divided into necessary
and unnecessary natural desires.
Food, shelter, and rest are necessary and
natural.
Kaviar and expensive wine, served on a silver
platter, fulfills our natural desire for food,
but it is unnecessary to eat so luxuriously.
Also, luxury is much harder to obtain than
the simple, basic stuff.
Among the vain desires are fame, wealth, immortality,
and power.
These desires are insatiable because they
have no natural limit.
Generally, they are also difficult to obtain
and hard to maintain.
Pursuing these pleasures leads to more cravings,
and because of this, we always feel restless
and never content.
According to Epicurus, vain desires are not
natural but based on certain man-made ideas.
Consumerism, which encourages the ever-increasing
accumulation of goods, is an example of this.
Epicurus believed that in order to reach inner
peace, we must aim for the fulfillment of
necessary natural desires, because they are
abundant and have a natural limit, meaning
that our bodies will tell us when we are full.
Of course, there is something like overeating,
or drinking too many fluids, so we need to
moderate whatever we do.
As most people have experienced in their own
lives, indulging in pleasure always comes
with a price.
Drinking too much is great for a few hours
when we are at the peak of the alcoholic buzz.
But drinking poison comes with mental and
physical consequences, like dehydration, depression,
headache, anxiety, nausea, and vomiting.
Things like overspending, overeating, using
drugs, and promiscuity all come with their
own prices to pay.
When we eliminate vain and unnecessary desires,
we stop experiencing the pain of not having
what´s difficult to come by and enjoy the
satisfaction of our basic necessities that
are so easy to fulfill.
The absence of the anxiety of not fulfilling
one's desires in the future leads to equanimity.
(2) Let go of groundless fears
Epicurus observed that humans burden themselves
with two collective fears: the fear of God
and the fear of death.
According to his philosophy, we should not
let ourselves be affected by such irrational fears.
Epicurus rejects the idea of an omnipotent
and omnibenevolent god.
Even though Gods are part of his theology,
he believed that they are not concerned with us.
According to him, the Gods are perfect beings,
and their involvement with us, inferior humans,
would go against their perfect nature.
Thus, divine intervention is out of the question
according to Epicurus, which kind of makes
sense if we consider the immeasurable size
of the universe, and then think that its almighty
creator would actually care if you watched
a dirty video last night.
Epicurus argues that our belief in an omnipotent
and benevolent God only makes us superstitious;
the prospect of getting punished for our wrongdoings
leads to unnecessary fear.
Many religious people lead their lives based
on this fear of divine punishment and ending
up in Hell.
Sure, this system keeps people in line, but
it also causes suffering.
Therefore, we should reject this belief according
to Epicurus, which he underpins by the following
formulation, summarized by philosopher David
Hume:
If God is unable to prevent evil, then he
is not all-powerful.
If God is not willing to prevent evil, then
he is not all-good.
If God is both willing and able to prevent
evil, then why does evil exist?
End quote.
Another fear that we should let go of is the
fear of death.
Epicurus described our bodies as wicker-works
of atoms that will fall apart once we die.
When our bodies decay, their atoms will be
released into the atomic dance of the universe,
and become part of other things.
When we die, our experience of the world stops,
as we cannot perceive anything when we have
stopped existing.
Epicurus rejected the theistic idea of an
afterlife because the Gods are not concerned with us.
Thus, death simply means the end, and cannot
be experienced because there's nothing to
experience it.
So, why worry about it?
I quote:
Death is nothing to us.
For what has been dissolved has no sense-experience,
and what has no sense-experience is nothing to us.
End quote.
So, this is how Epicurus keeps calm.
Thank you for watching.
