Epicurus was a Greek Philosopher who lived between 341–270 BC. He is the founder of Epicureanism, which in short, is a form of philosophy focusing on the natural pursuit of pleasure and comfort in order to avoid pain and achieve happiness, something which Epicurus defines as: the absence of pain, both physical and mental. In his time, Epicurus was an extremely prolific writer but only a few small fragments of his work remains and much of what is known about his philosophy derives from his later followers.
Even though Epicureanism is an ancient philosophy, it can still be easily applied to todays modern society.
So, here are 7 life lessons from the Art of Happiness by Epicurus
1. “Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little.”
Who’s to say that you’ll feel any better, happier and fulfilled when you reach your goals? If you don’t have enough right now, when will you have enough? It’s not to say we shouldn’t have ambitions but when you reach the top of the mountain and you’ve achieved your goals, it might not be as rosy as what you think it is.
2. “It’s not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
You could have ‘everything’, but yet could still be miserable and unhappy, whereas on the other hand, you could have very ‘little’ but still be happy and content. Sure, having enough money and basic necessities goes an awful long way to boosting your levels of happiness, but never assume that just because you have more ‘things’ you’ll be any happier and be better off for it.
3. “Of all the things that wisdom provides for the happiness of the whole man, by far the most important is the acquisition of friendship.”
We are social beings and friendships are pricelessly irreplaceable. Friendship gives us a sense of belonging and prevents us from feeling isolated. Whether we are at our highest or our lowest, a good, solid friendship provides us with a sense of support and security.
4. “We are born once. We cannot be born a second time, and throughout eternity we shall of necessity no longer exist. You have no power of the morrow and yet you put off your pleasure. Life is ruined by procrastination and everyone dies deep in his affairs.”
We have nowhere near as much control over our fate as what we think we do. We have no idea what could happen to us tomorrow or even 10 minutes from now. Just think about all the things you put off and procrastinate over, it could be: putting off that trip you’ve always wanted to go on, starting your own business, writing that book you’ve always wanted to write, the list is endless. Life is so short it’s frightening and at the end of the day you’ll only ever regret the things you don’t do. There is no such thing as a perfect time. The best time to start was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.
5. “We should envy no man. The good are undeserving of envy; as for the bad, the more successful they are, the more they mutilate themselves.”
Why should you envy someone? Envy is one of the most unproductive and dangerous feelings there is. The Philosopher Soren Kirkegaard describes envy as “unhappy admiration” and if we aren’t careful it can eat away at us and continue to grow. Envy triggers ill feelings towards others and causes us to be too focused on everyone else but ourselves. If you focus too much on others, you’ll never get to where you want to be.
6. “We must put the following question to each of our desires: What will happen to me is the object of my desire is achieved? What will happen if not?”
We achieve everything we wanted to, we have reached the peak of the mountain, brilliant! Do you feel any better? You might feel great, you might not feel anything at all, you might even ask yourself: What now?
Hell, you might even slip down the side of the mountain. How are you going to react to that? What are you going to do about it? Are you going to wallow in your disappointments or are going to get back on track and try again?
The choice is yours.
7. “It is senseless to ask the gods for what a man is able to provide for himself.”
We wish to be different. We wish for things we don’t currently have. We rely far too heavily on others to make things happen for us. Understand: If we fail to take control of ourselves someone else will. Ultimately, nobody is coming to save us.
We can’t always control the curve balls life throws at us, but we do have the power to control how we react to them. Stand up and take responsibility.
See you next time,
Yours sincerely,
Tom
