pleasure is the first good it is the
beginning of every choice and every
aversion it is the absence of pain in
the body and of troubles in the soul
Epicurus in a third century BC on the
Greek island of Samos a man was born
that would become the founder of one of
the four main philosophical schools of
late antiquity his name was Epicurus and
he spent his life studying what makes
people happy and how to attain this
according to epicures happiness is the
main goal in life we can achieve this by
pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain but
also by taming our desires and enjoying
the small things
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aside from a collection of fragments the
majority of Epicurus works are lost
fortunately we can find many of his
quotes and ideas in the works of other
authors like Stowe Bao's fellow demos
and Cicero the reason why aperture ston
happiness rather than virtue is because
he observed that humans are
pleasure-seeking beings by nature
looking at small children we can see
that they're always aimed at seeking
pleasure for themselves when they grow
up this pleasure seeking often becomes a
bit more refined
we learned for example that it's
sometimes necessary to undergo pain in
order to gain pleasure and even engaging
in activities that may seem altruistic
is ultimately a way to gain pleasure be
it in the form of Status acceptance or
creating a better community from which
we all benefit the pursuit of pleasure
in the Epicurean sense is often
misunderstood while some people think
that Epicurus was pointing to indulging
the senses like eating luxurious foods
participating in orgies and being drunk
and high all day this is not what he
meant he recognized that overindulgence
may be pleasurable for a short time but
in the long run it only causes pain in
such amounts that it overshadows the
pleasure derived from the activity in
the first place a night of heavy
drinking for example can be very
enjoyable but the hangover that follows
often leaves us in regret and it isn't
uncommon that this experience makes
people foul to never drink again so this
form of overindulgence completely misses
the mark and wouldn't have been
recommended by Epicurus so what did he
recommend
epicures distinguished different kinds
of pleasures and desires
therefore he created the system that
tells us what pleasures we shoot and
shouldn't pursue an essential part of
the system is the hierarchy of desires
these are natural and necessary desires
natural and non necessary desires and
vain desires living in agreement with
nature is the starting point when it
comes to attaining happiness pointing to
our own human nature as well as the
nature around us therefore Epicurus
discouraged the pursuit of unnatural
pleasures while going for natural
pleasures instead when we look closer at
these distinctions we'll find out that
natural and necessary desires are easy
to satisfy thus finding happiness in
life is actually pretty easy such
desires are things like food and shelter
generally humans have easy access to
these things as they are basic needs
another characteristic of these desires
is that they have a natural limit for
example after eating a certain amount of
food we are satisfied from this
mechanism epicures distinguished two
types of pleasure moving pleasure and
static pleasure moving pleasure is the
actual act of eating for example and
static pleasure is the contentment we
feel when we are satisfied eating a nice
meal can be immensely pleasurable but
according to Epicurus the absence of
needs or once after one's desires have
been satisfied is even better that's why
I saw static pleasures as the best
pleasures epicures also emphasized the
importance of socializing believing that
friendship is one of the main
ingredients for happiness as opposed to
romantic and sexual relationships that
often go hand in hand with unhappiness
looking at the jealousy possessiveness
and boredom that many couples experience
he practice what he preached he was
celibate and lived together with his
followers in a place called the garden
of Epicurus enjoying the simplicity of
bread week wine and an occasional pot of
cheese I should add however that in the
current individualistic societies
friendship seems to be a lot harder to
it natural and non necessary desires are
a bit harder to satisfy examples of this
are luxurious food an expensive car and
recreational travel even though we need
food we don't need luxurious food
generally a Ferrari isn't necessary to
go from point A to point B and we don't
need to travel abroad to enjoy ourselves
or to find relaxation also if we crave
for luxurious foods but satisfy our
hunger with a simple meal of a water and
bread is there any difference afterward
when our cravings are gone most likely
the contentment we feel that comes from
the eradication of desire is the same
stoic philosopher Seneca wrote several
passages on Epicurus often quoting him
to support his own pleas epicures
recognized that our sense of poverty and
wealth depends on how we define it as
told by Seneca and I quote there's also
the saying of Epicurus if you shape your
life according to nature you will never
be poor if you do so according to
opinion you will never be rich for
nature's wants are small the demands of
opinion are boundless and quote this
brings us to the last type of desires
the vain desires
power Fame and extreme material and
financial wealth are difficult to obtain
and also impossible to fully satisfy as
opposed to natural desires vain desires
don't have a natural limit this means
that even though we may have an
extraordinary amount of power it will
never be enough we always want more and
we make huge sacrifices including the
murdering of fellow humans to attain it
Epicurus sought these desires as
unnatural and thus based on opinion in
other words they are what society makes
us think that we need especially in
today's society we're told that we are
losers when we don't make a certain
amount of money and the younger
generations grow up with the idea that
pursuing status Fame and riches is what
life is all about this means that we are
conditioned to spend our time and energy
chasing something that's not only
unnatural but also doesn't fulfill us I
quote we call vain pursuits the types of
life that
do not tend towards happiness and quote
furthermore by slaving away on the
plantation of societal expectations
chasing what never satisfies we close
ourselves off from all the enjoyment
that is within our reach epicures
probably wouldn't have been surprised
why the sales of antidepressants are
skyrocketing these days we simply don't
allow ourselves to be happy
epicures believe that a happy life
equals the absence of anxiety and
suffering this isn't just a pain that
comes with the constant wanting and
craving for more but also the fear of
death and God
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epicures view these fears as irrational
and delivered rational explanations to
explain his point firstly the fear of
God which he explains by proposing a
thesis that stands strong among atheists
to this day I quote is God willing to
prevent evil but not able then he is not
omnipotent is he able but not willing
then he's malevolent is he both able and
willing then whence comes evil is he
neither able nor willing then why call
him God and quote epicures believed that
there's no afterlife no heaven or hell
and that our universe consists of atoms
and void because there's no punishment
or reward after we die it's kind of
pointless to live well in this life for
the sole purpose of enjoying the next
secondly there's the fear of death
according to Epicurus death means
annihilation it does not affect the
living otherwise they wouldn't be alive
and when someone is dead how can death
affect this person when the body and the
consciousness are gone how is it
possible to be harmed or from the
standpoint of heaven and hell how is it
possible to punish what isn't there
therefore epicures argued that death
isn't bad for neither the living nor the
dead so we shouldn't let the fear of
death spoil the possibility to be happy
it's this life today that counts
moreover it's important to remind
ourselves of the shortness of life and
to realize that we might be missing out
on pleasure I quote we are born once and
there can be no second birth for all
eternity we shall no longer be but you
although you are not master of tomorrow
or postponing your happiness we waste
away our lives in delaying and each of
us dies without having enjoyed leisure
and quote to wrap it up epicures created
a rational philosophy of pleasure that
is strikingly ascetic opposing to
popular belief instead of the blatant
consumerism of today he encourages us to
happy with little this doesn't mean that
we shouldn't enjoy unnecessary pleasures
from time to time even though epicures
lived on water bread and olives most of
the time occasionally he deeply enjoyed
a slice of cheese of course we all know
that the more simple we live the more we
enjoy luxury when we encounter it the
philosophy of epicures is quite
compatible with atheism stating that a
fear of God is pointless and that we
shouldn't worry about death either a
stoic would say that we must remember
death because the time to live
virtuously is limited but an epicurean
would say that we shouldn't waste time
and opportunities on vain pleasures and
irrational fears so we can be happy
living in current consumerist societies
we might want to ask ourselves the
following question why suffer by the
constant chase of money Fame and power
when living happily and content is so
easily accessible thank you for watching
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