Everyone is generally familiar with the Epicureans: these ancient Greeks, good-natured and cheerful, saw the meaning of life in pleasure. The doctrine is nice, uncomplicated and … literally suffered by its creator Epicurus.
Epicurus is a man in poor health who suffered from severe pains in his stomach, ate bread and water, called for living inconspicuously and spent time in his garden. When he was 70 years old, he took a bath, drank wine and died in great agony, trying to distract himself from them with thoughts.
What attracted people to Epicureanism? “This is the philosophy of the layman,” Mikhail Gasparov picks up the “label”. “It’s the layman who has a little, doesn’t want more, doesn’t offend anyone… Whoever got tired of life came to the Epicureans…”*
More than two thousand years have passed. “It happened in Paris in the 60s,” recalls the philosopher Roger-Paul Droit. – We were 15 years old, and we loved all sorts of antics. On that day, my friend and I wrote in ancient Greek on a large poster: “Oh woe! Woe! Epicurus is dead!” – and walked along the boulevard, shouting: “Babai, babai, o Epicouros thetneke!” Passers-by shied away from us. And we rejoiced like crazy and were terribly proud of ourselves … ”But the ancient Greek has fans and more serious ones. “The essence of the wisdom of Epicurus became clear to us in the 70s,” testifies the writer Yuri Druzhnikov**. – How to survive when everything is bad around? .. He helped us in the kitchen to become independent from external fate, from sanctimonious power, tried with all his might “to avert and expel those opinions that give rise to the greatest confusion of the soul …”
Epicurus did not manage to live unnoticed: even now he inspires the young and gives consolation to the tired. He teaches that happiness is achievable: rejoice in what you have, cherish your loved ones and do not be afraid of anything …
His dates
- 341 BC e .: Epicurus was born on the Greek island of Samos in a poor family of Athenian colonists. His father was a teacher, his mother was a spirit caster.
- 320-310: studies philosophy. Epicurus is a younger contemporary of Plato and Aristotle, a student of the disciples of Democritus.
- 310-309: founds a philosophical school first on the island of Lesbos (Greece), and then in Lampsacus (Asia Minor).
- 306: Settles in Athens, buys an estate (a house with a garden) and accepts apprentices there, including women and slaves.
- 300-280: writes treatises and other writings; a few letters and fragments have survived, the rest we know in the retelling of contemporaries and later philosophers.
- 271: dies in Athens surrounded by loved ones. According to his will, the house, garden and archive are transferred to his students.
Keys to Understanding
Get rid of fears
What are we most afraid of? Death, pain, divine wrath. But to be afraid of death is foolish: when we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we are no more. Our connections with the world, our relationship with reality, are possible only through the feelings that our body transmits to us. With the disappearance of feelings, nothing exists anymore. It is impossible to be afraid of something that does not exist and of which there is no way to be sure. Pain isn’t all that bad either. Prolonged pain can be endured, but severe pain does not last long (we pass out or die). To endure pain is helped by memories of past pleasures or the imagination of a future good. And if, nevertheless, the pain is unbearable, a person has the right to voluntarily die.
About it
- Epicurus “Fragments” (digital book) Directmedia Publishing, 2002.
- Valentin Asmus “Ancient Philosophy” Higher School, 2001.
- Sergei Zhitomirsky “Epicurus” (historical novel) AST: Astrel, 2001
Finally, there is absolutely no reason to be afraid of the gods. They exist in their own world, the world of the perfect and immortal, and people do not care about them at all. They do not follow us and do not require anything from us. We are not to worship or obey them. All decisions are made in our world, and we make them ourselves.
Appreciate affection
There is nothing in the world more tender and truly human than friendship. Nothing compares to the pleasure of talking, sharing laughter and moments of intimacy with those who are dear to us, whom we love and who love us. Friends and students, freemen and slaves, men and women from everywhere flocked to Epicurus to spend time in his garden. His teaching is not only a hymn to the enjoyment of solitude, but also a celebration of the deep connection that exists between people.
enjoy peace
The starting and ending point of our life is our body. And his needs are limited and easy to satisfy: water, some food, and a place to sleep. “Who knows how to live on bread and water, he will argue with Zeus himself in pleasure.” Unlimited desires that are not related to vital necessity should be avoided (Epicurus especially disliked the desire to rule), and addiction to luxury: “Great is the person who uses clay utensils like silver, but no less great is the one who uses silver like clay.” Real pleasure is the absence of pain, fears and passions, the imperturbable peace of the soul.
* M. Gasparov “Entertaining Greece”. Terra-Book Club, 2009. **