When most people think of the perfect life, they imagine a life filled with fine-dining,
infinite romantic partners, fame, status, wealth, and luxury.
They imagine a life of infinite power—being able to fulfill any desire they wish.
But if power was all you needed to be happy, that means every wealthy business owner, a-list
celebrity, and gangster would be happy.
But that’s clearly not the case.
No examples are needed.
In any one of these categories, you can find someone whose life is full of stress, pain,
and sorrow.
Worldly power is not the path to happiness.
So what is?
Power over yourself.
According to the Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, the key to happiness lies in mastering
your own desires.
When you desire the right things, happiness is the natural byproduct.
So what are the right things?
Epicurus divides our desires into three categories: necessary desires, luxury desires, and vain
desires.
The first category is necessary desires.
These are the desires we need to satisfy in order to survive and thrive, such as food,
water, and clothing.
The pleasure that arises from the satisfaction of these desires is long-lasting.
Just think about how good it feels to no longer be hungry, thirsty, or cold.
There’s a calm, lasting satisfaction that comes with gratifying necessary desires.
The second category is luxury desires.
These desires are natural to have and feel good when they’re satisfied, such as eating
fine food and buying a really nice car, but they’re ultimately unnecessary—according
to Epicurus—and the pleasure they bring is short-lived.
Not only that, but they can often bring more pain than the pleasure they provide.
For example, eating too much junk food can provide short-term pleasures but produce bad
long-term health effects that ruin your baseline level of happiness.
The final category is vain desires.
These desires are boundless and can never be truly satisfied, such as fame, power, wealth
and status.
These desires come with a lot of stress, pain, and misery.
As any YouTuber can tell you, if what you desire are views, that desire will never be
satisfied.
When you begin creating content, you think that a thousand views per video will make
you happy.
But when you reach that and it doesn’t, you think 10 000 views will make you happy.
Then 50 000, then 100 000, then 1 000 000 and so on.
At some point, you realize that desire can never be truly satisfied.
According to Epicurus, the person who desires only what is necessary will live the happiest
life.
The person who wants only what is necessary is like the person who just wants a cup of
water to satisfy their thirst.
Their desire is easy to satisfy and brings long-lasting satisfaction.
The person who wants luxury is like the person who also wants flavouring in their water so
that it’ll taste good.
It takes more work to satisfy this desire, and the pleasure it brings is short-lived.
Also, this person becomes more fragile, because they’re less likely to be able to drink
just plain water now, and having plain water, as opposed to flavoured water, will now come
with a certain amount of pain.
But the person who has vain desires is like the person who has a hole in their cup.
No matter how much water is poured inside it, it will never fill up.
Their desire will never be satisfied.
So how did this philosophy play out in Epicurus’ own life?
Epicurus lived ascetically, surviving mostly on bread and water.
He also started one of the greatest schools in Athens called “The Garden”, where he
taught his own doctrines.
People travelled from all over the world to attend and live in his school, and after he
passed away, his students were so moved and transformed by his life that they continued
to run the school and teach his doctrines.
According to Diogenes Laertes, an Ancient Greek biographer, Epicurus was so kind that
he had a friend circle that was larger than some cities, and when he passed, he left things
behind in his will for the children of his friends.
He was so productive that he produced more works than nearly any other philosopher at
the time.
When we take all these facts into account, we get a clearer image of the type of man
Epicurus was.
He was kind, generous, charismatic, wise, caring, productive, and influential.
How many teachers can you imagine living that type of life or having that kind of influence
on their students?
And in his final moments, he wrote a letter to his friend Idomeneus saying that, essentially,
even though he was suffering and about to die, he still felt joy in his heart over the
philosophical conversations they had.
He then asked his friend to keep an eye on his other friend’s children.
Even in the face of suffering and death, he remained grateful, joyous, and caring of others.
Many of us spend our lives chasing power.
We want power over the world and others.
Our desires are often unnatural and unnecessary.
We want more and more things that only leave us feeling empty and unsatisfied—stressed
and sad.
But Epicurus showed us that by gaining power over ourselves, by learning to control our
desires, by desiring only what was necessary, we could live a life of happiness and impact.
Just take a look at his life.
He left behind an influential legacy that is still shaping history today.
His life influenced me, and maybe now, it’s influencing you too.
But it’s up to you to decide: what will
you desire?