Epicurus and Peaks of Pleasure
Happy Anyways — Part 3
This post contains part 3 of my book Happy Anyways (in Turkish for now, in English at the end of this year). If you want to buy the book, you can contact me on Instagram.
Philosophy historians generally agree that Democritus was the first one to question the nature of happiness. He is believed to have lived between approximately 460–370 BC. It’s a relief to know that our pursuit of happiness as modern slaves has at least 2,500 years of roots. After all, one likes to be consoled by feeling that he is not alone in this entire universe. Democritus makes a very philosopher-worthy comment and says that our happiness does not depend on external events or good luck, but on our own state of mind. It is a product of our soul.
Let’s talk about my favorite historical figure: Epicurus. He is an atomic Greek philosopher who lived between 341–270 BC. He is influenced by Democritus, but takes his ideas one and more step further. We owe much of what we know about him to the writings of Diogenes and to Lucretius’ famous book, The Structure of the Universe. It is said that he produced many works, but most of them have not been preserved until today. All we have left of him are his letters to Menoikeus.
““If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires ” — Epikurus
According to Epicurus, the meaning of life is finding sustainable happiness. What we call the highest good is happiness itself. Everything else we chase after, money, fame, a good family, health, fairness, virtue, wisdom, comes from simply trying to be happier. Happiness is the one thing we don’t do for anything else. This point is very important, we want happiness because we want happiness. There is no other reason. Like Aristotle, Epicurus believed that happiness is the supreme good and the last stop of all other actions. There is no higher good that comes after being happy.
Continuing the atomism of Democritus, Epicurus also says that everything in the universe consists of atoms, even our souls. He thinks that when we die, the soul also disappears, he does not believe in a soul separate from the body.
Epicurus does not believe in a life after this mortal life and the ‘Heaven and Hell’ duo. His theory that everything was made up of atoms was incredibly farsighted for the time. We have already mentioned that he asserts the building blocks of humans and all other beings are composed of indivisible atoms due to being materialistic, and he goes one step further: Gods are also made up of atoms.
He establishes a small commune in the mountains of Athens in order to be true to his own ideas and live his philosophy. He arranged a small place for this commune, which they called the “Garden”. In this garden, a small but close group lived away from society and politics, eating less, talking for hours and discussing their philosophies. At the entrance of this garden this sentence was hanging, “”Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure. The caretaker of that abode, a kindly host, will be ready for you; he will welcome you with bread, and serve you water also in abundance, with these words: “Have you not been well entertained? This garden does not whet your appetite; but quenches it.”
Epicureanism has 4 basic pillars called Tetrapharmakos or 4-part remedy.
❖ Don’t fear God. It is pointless to fear God, because God does not exist. If there is, it is too great to care about what we humans do. (Ἄφοβον ὁ θεός)
❖ Don’t worry about death. There is no death while we exist, we do not exist when there is death (ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος).
❖ What is good is easy to get. (καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον)
❖What is terrible is easy to endure.(τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον)
“Death is nothing to us. When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the belief that in death, there is awareness.” — Epicurus
It would be useful to read the above 4 rules a few more times. Like Sartre, Epicurus was able to fit his philosophy into a small definition. Short and sweet nothing artificially lengthened.
According to him, it is meaningless to fear God because God does not exist. At least he does not believe that there is a God like people imagine and the great religions describe today. Although it is claimed that he softened his rhetoric against God due to the fear of oppressive regimes because religion was perfectly integrated into social life during his lifetime, the following quote by the Scottish philosopher David Hume actually summarizes his reasoning. A comforting proposition for atheists:
“God wants to prevent evil, but is not able? Then he is not omnipotent. He can, but is not willing? Then he is malicious. Is he both capable and willing? Then where does evil come from? He has neither power nor will he? Then why do you call him God?” — Epicurus
Epicurus goes a lot on the fear of death because, according to him, the fear of death is more about not knowing what will happen after death itself. However, this is an unnecessary fear, because death is annihilation. The soul and body literally disappear and there is no such thing as us after death.
Continuing from the third principle of Tetrapharmakos, our basic needs are food and shelter, water and clothing are easily accessible. Having these is actually enough to feel happy and to live free from stress and pain (ataraxia). There are 2 steps that Epicurus sees as a prerequisite for a happy life. The first is ataraxia, that is, to be peaceful and fearless, or the absolute peace of the soul, and the second is aponia, that is, freedom from pain. Epicurus’ hedonism or enjoyment comes from the absence of pain and the absence of distress in the soul.
Epicurus looks at pleasures from a different angle and divides them into kinetic and static. If you take action to suppress a desire and feel pleasure, this falls into kinetic pleasure. It’s like the pleasure you get after drinking water when you’re thirsty. Static, on the other hand, is the philosophy foundation of Epicurus, namely the absence of pain and stress, aponia and ataraxia. Aponia and ataraxia are actually the normal state of human beings, says Epicurus, as long as we do not pursue pleasures that will not be good for us and bring pain along, The pursuit of fame, money, and luxury pushes us out of our natural state.
“When we say, then, that pleasure is the end and the aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do through ignorance, prejudice, or willful misrepresentation. By pleasure we mean the absence of pain in the body and trouble in the soul. It is not an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not sexual lust, not the enjoyment of fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table, that produces a pleasant life. It is rather sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs that lead to the tumult of the soul.” — Epicurus
Now it is time we move on to the second biggest obstacle to our happiness after our fear of death. According to Epicurus, the second biggest obstacle to our happiness is our sense of anxiety. He thinks we cannot be happy if we keep chasing after better, stronger, wealthier. Not satisfied with your nose? Do you want a house with a bigger balcony instead of your house? Wish I had the iPhone 12 in your pocket? You are in a constant state of anxiety when you want the better, it takes away the meaning of your life. Epicurus says that happiness might actually be our natural state, but we’ve got ourselves surrounded with unfulfilled ambitions. Unfulfilled whims and any fear or anxiety about our future always hinder us on the path to our pleasure, calmness, and happiness. Why should Epicurus be concerned about the nihilists’ stance of frivolity? There is no next life, no God to punish and follow me, and life has no defined meaning. Then there is no reason to worry.
Our happiness is not in the amount of possessions we have, nor in our titles, nor in the power we have. Our happiness is in our complete painlessness, if nothing causes pain on you then we are happy. In fact, Epicurus does not say much different from the Stoics that we will see in the following chapters. Only the Stoics advise us to endure pain and suppress emotions in order to attain happiness (apátheia), while Epicurus advises us to avoid anything harmful and irritating and to minimize pain (ataraxía). Ataraxia is also associated with tranquility, on which Epicurus focused so much. Consider reading a book or listening to music under a blanket while the sounds of rain come from outside, alone with your coffee in a dim light at home. Isn’t it a wonderful feeling of happiness? Because you are far from pain. You are not chasing pleasure and excess. But you have high peace. From this peace comes happiness.
“Anyone who expects the least from the day to come greets him with the greatest joy.” — Epicurus
So what kinds of pleasures are more meaningful? According to Epicurus, the answer is mental. Mental pleasures have an effect on you at every moment of our life. But your physical pleasures come and go in bits and pieces, and then we stare after them longing for more. We are in the hedonic cycle of chasing after pleasures, and we add a lot of anxiety to our lives by thinking that we are not living more happily, richer, more beautiful, and more joyfully than others.
“Don’t ruin what you have by desiring what you don’t have; remember, what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for.” — Epicurus
The pleasures we must pursue should not come to us with pain. When we achieve what we desire, we must take steps to maximize our pleasure and minimize the pain that follows. Our first job is to calculate the pain that will come as well as the pleasure we will receive in each of our adventures.
According to Epicurus, we have 3 different desires. The first set is natural and necessary desires. These are the desires that form the basis of Maslow’s pyramid, such as dressing, eating, drinking and sheltering. The second set is natural but not necessary desires. Examples of these are sex, fine dining, beautiful dresses, comfortable shoes, and spacious homes. Finally, desires that are both unnatural and unnecessary. Power, fame, money, luxury and so on. Epicurus says follow the first and if all your desires of the first set are satisfied, know very well how to enjoy it. You can go after the second set as well, but overdoing it here will cause you unnecessary anxiety. A simple diet of bread and water is better than a table without bird’s milk. Because it does not impose an extra burden on you, that is, it keeps you away from pain. As a different example, smoking gives you pleasure, so should we smoke? No. First, we sell our time to companies and businesses so that we can buy cigarettes, so we suffer. Second, we are more or less sure that the impact of smoking on our health in the future will be devastating. Before the pleasures we will provide by satisfying our short-term desires, we must measure and weigh very well the pain that will follow. Avoid set three as much as possible. This set is a collection of natural and unnecessary desires created by man and society. Running after it only causes pain.
Let’s come to the most important acquisition in life according to Epicurus. He finds friendship, sharing troubles, learning and teaching very valuable. According to him, one of the most solid ways to happiness in this life is to make friends. Rather than helping our friends with them, we need to share with them and for the sense of trust we have in them. He summarizes this view with the following two sentences:
“Of all the ways to achieve happiness throughout life, making friends is by far the most important.”
and
“We need our friends’ reassurance that we can always ask them for help, rather than their help.” -Epicurus
Modern science has a series of researches that gives a lot of support to Epicurus on this subject. Studies show that people with strong friendship ties are 50 percent less likely to die prematurely. Although we can have an average of 7–9 close friends, according to Robin Dunbar, this number can go up to being friends with 150 people. This is, of course, a number that has been retested recently. Still, 7–9 seems more logical. A study from England shows that being in regular contact with about 10 friends can increase your happiness a lot. People who have happy friends are said to be happier, as happiness is believed to be contagious. The job you undertake with a friend causes you to see that job much easier, according to research. According to another research by the National Bureau of Economic Research, your circle of friends can have as much impact on your happiness as increasing your income by 50 percent. These are just what I noted from the article I’ve attached the details of below. Epicurus seems to have conveyed to us the most important building block of happiness 2500 years ago. So, what are the building blocks of life that we should keep in mind from all these stories, and that will make us happy according to Epicurus?
● Knowledge and curiosity
● Ataraxia: liberation from the prison of peace and fear
● Aponia: Absence of pain, avoidance of any situation and action that will cause pain
● Prioritizing the desires of the mind over temporary physical desires
● Friendship
● Close community
● Frugality in all work, not overdoing it
● Love of philosophy
● Freedom and self-sufficiency
● Living in moderation
● Few items, self experience
● A life away from society, politics and polemic
Looks like a good recipe, should think about it. What do you think?
Sources
Gross, J. (2021, May 11). Dunbar’s Number Debunked: You Can Have More Than 150 Friends. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/science/dunbars-number-debunked.html
Science-based reasons why friends make us happier. Mindvalley Blog. (2018, January 17). https://blog.mindvalley.com/why-friends-make-us-happier/
