This is a philosopher who helps us think about money, capitalism, and our runaway consumer societies
Epicurus was an Ancient Greek born in 341 BC.
What made him famous was that he spent all his life trying to work out the largest puzzle there is:
what makes people happy?
Philosophers before him had discussed at length what could make people good
Epicurus preferred to look at what is fun
Unfortunately, the world was bitter and bitchy even then
and when people heard that Epicurus had set up a school to study happiness
the rumors went off the scale
There were tales that the school hosted ten course feasts, and orgies every night
Epicurus was said, by one critic, to have orgasmed 18 times in a single evening in a bed full of virgins
It wasn't true
Epicurus and his team were studying happiness, but they were doing it very soberly
The philosopher owned only two cloaks, and lived on bread, olives, and for a treat, an occasional slice of cheese
As for the bedroom, he merely responded demurely that he'd married philosophy
Having patiently studied happiness for many years
Epicurus came to a set of remarkable and revolutionary conclusions about what we actually need to be happy
He proposed that we typically make 3 mistakes when thinking about happiness:
Firstly, we think happiness means having romantic, sexual relationships
but Epicurus looked around and saw so many unhappy couples
their unions marred by jealousy, misunderstanding, cheating, and bitterness
at the same time, he observed how much nicer friendships are:
How people tend to be so decent and unpossessive with their friends
Friendship seemed to be where human nature was at its sweetest
The only problem Epicurus noted was that we don't see our friends enough
The next thing we ordinary think that we need to be happy is a lot of money
but we tend not properly to factually the unbelievable sacraficies we gotta have to make to get this money:
The jealousy, the backbiting, the long hours
What makes work really satisfying, Epicurus believed, ins't money
but it was able to work alone, or in small groups, like in a bakery, or boat repair shop
and when we feel we helping others
in our own, minor way improving the world
Isn't really large sums or status
that we want deep down
Its a sense of making a diference
and lastely
Epicurus observes how obsessive we are with luxury
especially involving houses and beautiful serene locations
but beneath our love of luxury there is really something else we trying to get out
What we want is a feeling of calm
We want our minds pure, free...
Not full of the normal boredom and chaos
But the great question is: Does luxury actually make us calm?
Epicurus wasn't so sure...
Having looked happiness in depth
Epicurus anounces a revolution reset of insights
That we really need only three things to be happy in this life
Firstly
You need your friends around
No sex, no orgy, just your mates
Enough of seen them only now and then
Its regularity of contact that counts
So he did that thing that most of us ocasionally dream of doing
but never actualy get around do
He bought a big house and start living with all his friends
Everyone had your own quarters and there was pleasant share areas too
There's always someone nice to talk to you in the kitchen
Secondly
Everyone downshifted
All the members of the comune stop working for other people
They took big pay cuts in return for doing their own stuff
some farming, some cooking, some potring or writing
And thirdly
Epicurus and his friends stop thinking you could be calm just by having a beautiful view to look out to
They devote themselfes to finding calm in their own minds
To spending time on their own, reflecting, writing stuff down, reading things, meditating
The experiment was so successful, the members of the comune so happy
the idea spread like wildfire
Epicurean communities open up all around the mediterranean
at height of the movement
there was four hundred thousand people living in comunes from Spain to Palestine
It was only the christian church that ending things in the fifth century
But in most of the respect to the community somehow
cause they converted all in to monasteries
what we know as monasteries are really just epicurean comunes
with a christian top soil
Another interesting fact: Karl Marx it's Ph.D thesis on Epicurus
and what we call communism, a gigantic
failed system
it's really a grown up, corrupted, not very successful version of epicureanism
The real Legacy of Epicurus is that human beings aren't very good make themselves happy
especially because they think it's so easy
We think we know, it's about sex, money, luxury
We just want to how to secure all this
but no, says Epicurus
Reflect on the moments that truly bring you happiness
and they are to do with this
Have the courage to change your life, in accordance with the moments that actually delivery satisfaction
You might end up living in a very different way
Out in the country with just some cheese, a couple of clothes, a few philosophy books and
some very good friends down the corridor