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If you know this, it only takes a very little trouble to learn the rest: The lessons one by one brighten each other, and no dark night will keep you, pathless and astray, from ultimate vision and light, all things illumined in each other’s radiance.
from Lucretius, On The Nature of Things, Book One (Humphries)
¶ Step 1 - Understand The Importance Of Epicurean Philosophy
- Epicurus answers vital questions such as: What is the nature of the universe? Do we have immortal souls? How do we know if there are supernatural gods or absolute right and wrong, and if those do not exist, how do we make decisions without them?
- Epicurus explains why we should look to “Pleasure” as the guide Nature gave us to determine how to live.
- Epicurus shows us how to succeed in life by choosing prudently between what to pursue and what to avoid.
- Epicurus shows us how to overcome anxiety and fear about death and other problems which cannot be avoided.
- Epicurus was born in Samos, Greece in 341 BC, and died in Athens in 270 BC.
- Epicurus started his school decades after the death of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and about the same time as the founding of the Stoic school, all more than 200 years before Christianity.
- Diogenes Laertius wrote a biography of Epicurus which includes the full text of three of his key letters, as well as a list of Epicurus’ Principal Doctrines.
- Lucretius wrote “On The Nature of Things,” a poetic summary of the heart of Epicurean philosophy.
- Diogenes of Oinoanda erected a stone wall on which was inscribed many key elements of the philosophy of Epicurus.
- Other texts survive, but they are frequently either written by opponents of Epicurus, or so fragmentary that their meaning is unclear. Read such works skeptically and compare them closely to the most well preserved texts of Diogenes Laertius, Lucretius, and Diogenes of Oinoanda.
¶ Step 3 - Study Nature Through Epicurean Canonics and Physics
- Epicurus first became interested in philosophy because he did not accept his teachers’ explanation that the universe arose from Chaos. Epicurus went on to revise Democritus’ theory of atoms and void, rejecting atomic reductionism and affirming the reality of things at both the human and atomic levels.
- Epicurus taught that knowledge is possible through an approach he called “Canonics.” This system is grounded in the three faculties given us by Nature - the five senses, the feelings of pleasure and pain, and the pattern-recognizing faculty of anticipations - as the basis on which to form our opinions about what is true.
- Epicurus taught that “Physics” rests on the laws of nature, which itself derives from the unchanging and eternal Atoms and Void. Everything which comes from the atoms moves and changes over time, but not so fast that we cannot grasp that nothing comes from nothing or goes to nothing. From this starting point we deduce that the universe is infinite in size and eternal in time, that the Earth is not unique, and that life is not supernatural but exists throughout the universe.
¶ Step 4 - Free Yourself From Supernatural Gods, Fatalism, and Fear Of Death
- Epicurus taught that being godlike means experiencing endless pleasure without disturbance by pain or death, and that any godlike beings that exist are totally natural, do not meddle in the affairs of others, and are not to be feared.
- Epicurus taught that without supernatural gods or iron laws of determinism to restrain us, we have the power to change the way we live. While there is no fate but what we make, we only live once, and we must seize the day with confidence that life is desirable, and that those who say otherwise are worse than foolish.
- Epicurus taught that when we are dead we no longer exist, and when we die our consciousness comes to an end just as does our body. This means that there is no reason to worry about reward in heaven, punishment in hell, or that anything will happen to us after we are dead.
- Epicurus taught that Nature gives us only Pleasure and Pain by which to decide what to choose and what to avoid. Epicurus said that Pleasure is the beginning and the end of a happy life, and that we would not know what “Good” means without the faculty of Pleasure.
- Epicurus taught that the word Pleasure is a sweeping term that includes everything we find desirable in life, both mentally and physically, and that mental pleasures are frequently more important to us than bodily pleasures.
- Epicurus taught that by definition all pleasures are desirable and all pain is undesirable, but that we should choose actions that are painful, and avoid actions that are pleasurable, when those choices will bring us greater pleasure as a result.
¶ Part 6 - Understand How Being “Virtuous” Or “Good” Is Not An End In Itself
- Many people are tempted to think that the goal of life is to be praised as being “Virtuous” or “Good,” but Epicurus taught that those high-sounding words mean nothing in themselves.
- Epicurus shows us that there is no such thing as absolute virtue or absolute good, and that therefore being virtuous or good is not an end it itself, but only the means to some other end. Epicurus taught that the end established by Nature is Pleasure.
- Epicurus taught that the test of whether any conduct is “virtuous” or “good” is whether it in practice leads to a pleasurable life. In every decision ask: “What will happen if I choose this course of action and what will happen if I do not?”
- Epicurus shows that once we see that the true test of whether any action is prudent, honorable, and just is whether it leads to a life of pleasure, we can then understand that a life of pleasure is inseparable from a life of prudence, honor, and justice.
¶ Step 7 - Implement The Epicurean Worldview and Lifestyle Yourself
- Decide what is true and real through sound reasoning based firmly on what the faculties given you by Nature reveal to you.
- Free yourself through the study of Nature from false concerns about supernatural gods, about helplessness in the face of Fate, and about punishment in hell or reward in heaven after death. Pursue happiness through pleasure in this life, the only life you have.
- Look to Nature for confidence that pleasure is the beginning and end of a happy life, and for proof that supernatural religion and claims of absolute virtue have no truth and hold no moral authority over us.
- Cultivate friendship for the joy and security it brings, and work with your friends to study and apply true philosophy.
Meditate, therefore, by day and by night upon these precepts and upon the others that go with these, whether by yourself or in the company of another like yourself, and never will your soul be in turmoil either sleeping or waking but you will be living like a god among men, for in no wise does a man who lives among immortal blessings resemble a mortal creature.