Posts by Kalosyni

  • Epicureanism as the spiritual essence or 'religion' of an entire community

    I haven't re-read this thread (and there has been a lot discussed here already)...but this seems to be the right place to post...on my mind this morning: "What makes something a religion?" I put that question into Google and the AI came back with this:


    As for my own definition of what I would consider a religion -- I would say that all religions are defined by people who come together in-person to do "worship" together, with multiple rituals and ceremonies that are considered holy/sacred/consecrated in that they are done because they "seek to transcend the earthly realm". Religion is always seeking to connect with something beyond physical matter and to connect with a world existing or transcending beyond death.

    We do not have evidence of any of the above in ancient Epicureans, and the extant texts of Epicurus do not provide any guidance for this. Since Epicurean philosophy holds that the soul dies with the body, then there is no after-life. Also, physical things exist because of physical causes - there are no supernatural forces in the world. Given these concepts, I think it would be difficult to consider or turn Epicurean philosophy into a religion.

    These are just my current thoughts, processing some ideas.

  • Ancient Greek/Roman Customs, Culture, and Clothing

    An interesting article: "Ancient Greek and Roman statues often smelled like roses, a new study says":

    Quote

    Cecilie Brøns, a senior researcher and curator of the Glyptoteket museum's collection of ancient Greek and Roman art in Copenhagen, Denmark, says ancient texts provide evidence that statues were often scented with perfumes, oils and waxes.

    https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5332367/ancient-greece-rome-statues-smell-study-research

  • Overview & Syllabus: "Introduction to the Philosophy of Epicurus" (Self-paced Course)

    The following topics will be presented in the "Introduction to Epicurean Philosophy" 7-Week Self-paced Course:

    Week 1: Epicurus, the Garden, and the Extant Texts - The biography of Epicurus, the history and location of the school of Epicurus, and an overview of the extant texts.

    Week 2: The Nature of Things and How We Can Have Knowledge of Them - A brief overview of Epicurean physics and canonics, as the basis of Epicurean philosophy.

    Week 3: The Non-involvement of God(s), No Afterlife, & the Nature of the Soul and Death - An overview of the Epicurean beliefs about the nature of the gods, the soul, and death, as well as philosophical exercises to become accustomed to seeing that the fear of death and dying is unnecessary.

    Week 4: Pleasure and Eudaemonia - Pleasure is the starting point of the motivation that nature gave to humans and every animal at birth. Pleasure is the goal to which we aim, but not every pleasure is chosen. By coming to understand the full nature of both pleasure and pain, we can learn to make choices and avoidances which lead to our long-term eudaemonia.

    Week 5: The Role of Virtue Which Leads to Pleasure - We choose our actions wisely because of the goal of pleasure, and not because we are holding to abstract ideas of "right and wrong", or duty toward religion or cultural norms. Virtue is chosen according to Epicurean principles, and as a means for the health and happiness of the body and soul. This week will also cover the Epicurean understanding of justice.

    Week 6: Free Will and Self-Suffiency - There is no other world more important than this world, and we need to determine what pleasures are worth the pain. We have free will, and yet we must attend to our livelihood and household while continuing to practice the philosophy.

    Week 7: Friendship and the Twentieth - this final week will cover friendship as a great good, and the importance of maintaining the Epicurean community. The Letter to Menoeceus says: "So practice these and similar things day and night, by yourself and with a like-minded friend, and you will never be disturbed whether waking or sleeping, and you will live as a god among men: for a man who lives in the midst of immortal goods is unlike a merely mortal being."

    *********

    Go to Week 1

  • Week 1: Epicurus, the Garden, and the Extant Texts

    Additional material for Section 1.2:

    Here is an very good overview of the Principal Doctrines.

    The following is copied here from an earlier post created by forum member Don.

    *****************************

    Sept. 23, 2023 - posted by Don

    In looking at the PDs for some ideas, I took a clue from Cyril Bailey's summary of the PDs. He categorized them as:

    1-4: The tetrapharmakos, the four-fold fundamental principles necessary for a tranquil life

    5: The relation of pleasure to virtue

    6, 7: Protection from external disturbances

    8-10: The selection of pleasures

    11-13: The ethical value of physical science

    14-21: The wise man’s life in relation to nature, his fellow men, and to true pleasure (can be sub-divided)

    22-26: The tests and standards of moral (i.e., truly pleasant) action

    27, 28: Friendship

    29, 30: The classification of desires

    31-38: Justice and injustice

    39, 40: The wise man’s life in the Epicurean community

    Now there are many things about which I don't agree with Bailey, but this list is helpful as a starting point.

    PD01 and PD02 are the ubiquitous correct understanding of the gods and death.

    PD05 gives the standard formula about living pleasurably entails living virtuously/ethically, and vice versa.

    PD08 to PD10 talks about making the correct choices and rejections, the core of Epicurean day to day (moment to moment) practice. The practice seems to me to be brought up again in PD20 through PD26. Those are sections I need to investigate in my unending quest to re-compose Principle Doctrines as a text. PD29 (necessary, unnecessary desires, etc.) and PD30 are an important "how to do it" text as well.

    PD11 to PD13 talk about the necessity of understanding "how things work" when it comes to allaying fears and superstitions about "astronomical phenomena and death and suffering," "myths," and "what is above and below the earth and in general about the infinite unknown." This conveys the importance of studying natural science and to understand how the physical, material universe works.

    PD14 and PD15 talks about the fact that unlimited wealth isn't necessary to pursue a pleasurable life. Sufficient wealth is "limited and easy to acquire."

    PD17 is a good reminder: "One who acts aright (δίκαιος) is utterly steady and serene (ἀταρακτότατος), whereas one who goes astray is full of trouble and confusion."

    PD27 is our friendship one!

    The Justice PDs are important from an ethical standpoint in that they say how people should treat each other, especially PD31 "Natural justice is a covenant for mutual benefit, to not harm one another or be harmed."

    PD39 and 40 are not straightforward when trying to translate, but are potentially helpful.

  • Overview & Syllabus: "Introduction to the Philosophy of Epicurus" (Self-paced Course)

    The Philosophy of Epicurus: A Self-paced 7-week Course (work-in-progress)

    • Overview: Join us for a self-paced seven week study course on the philosophy of Epicurus. This program will introduce you to the basics of the classical Epicurean philosophy and provide opportunities for contemplation and guidance for practical applications of the philosophy to modern life. Epicurus presents a worldview which answers existential questions such as: What is the nature of the world? What is the nature of the soul? How do we make choices in our lives when a creator god is not involved in the world?

      The philosophy of Epicurus shows how pleasure is the guide of life and gives guidance for living the most complete life possible. By understanding the limits of both pleasure and pain, and how to overcome the fear of death, the mind becomes clear and open to living fully. Through the understanding of what is natural and necessary, what is natural and but not necessarily needed, and what is merely empty opinion, the proper prudence to make wise choices and avoidances result in more pleasure and less pain. The philosophy of Epicurus leads us to live the best life - a healthy mind in a health body - surrounded by friends and supported by sufficiency.

  • Dark Energy experiment challenges Einstein's theory of Universe

    Dark Energy experiment shakes Einstein's theory of Universe
    New research could force a fundamental rethink of the nature of space and time.
    www.bbc.com

  • Is there Choice without satisfaction? What's the name of the pleasure of Choice itself?

    Quote from Godfrey

    Looking at it in this way, it becomes a three step process: 1) weighing, 2) selecting or rejecting, and 3) doing. Further, as I'm thinking of it currently, 3) isn't "doing or not doing", it's actually doing one thing or doing another thing. Rejecting eating the 9am bowl of ice cream doesn't result in doing nothing but in moving on to another endeavor, be it active or passive. So in this way selecting isn't either/or, it's actually choice and avoidance. In selecting one thing, you reject another, and vice versa. This relates to the idea that there's no neutral state: just as we're always experiencing either pleasure or pain, we're never doing nothing unless we're dead. At any moment, we've chosen to do one thing and are avoiding myriad other things.

    :thumbup::thumbup:

    Quote from Godfrey

    VS71. Ask this question of every desire: what will happen to me if the object of desire is achieved, and what if not?

    :thumbup::thumbup:

  • Is there Choice without satisfaction? What's the name of the pleasure of Choice itself?

    Quote from Julia

    Only when I ask "Name the satisfaction/relief this will bring" am I forced to actually think about the consequences, and because they're positively framed, it also motivates me to follow through:

    This is going beyond the scope of what we have available from the extant texts of Epicurus.

    You might look onto "Compassionate Communication" (NVC) by Marshall Rosenberg:

    For the last category "meaning", I would reframe it as "making sense of life/my life" (to avoid going into a religious framing of the concept of purpose).

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolen…20and%20meaning.

    The communication aspect of NVC also includes internal habits of thinking.

  • Is there Choice without satisfaction? What's the name of the pleasure of Choice itself?

    Quote from Julia

    I lie to myself, and pretend that eating a box of ice cream was my Choice, even though it's 9am, I'm not hungry, and know full well I'll only regret it before I'm even half done.

    In this example, you eating the ice cream is "doing" and so by default that is a "choice" that you made. Instead of labeling it "lying", try out the label of "justifying" (which is less harsh). There is a reason behind the action - possibly the desire for "entertainment" (novelty) or a desire to remove anxiety (through distraction). Also consider that modern foods are created with a very strong "yummy" factor, so if you know you have "trigger" foods (foods which when you start eating you are unable to stop) then make sure that you do not buy them or bring them into to the house. Instead go out to a ice cream parlor and only buy a single scoop (once a month, or less, which makes it more special and more enjoyable). Substitute healthy foods for snacking (carrot sticks are great, etc).

  • Is there Choice without satisfaction? What's the name of the pleasure of Choice itself?

    Quote from Julia

    To rephrase it all: "When there is no anticipated satisfaction nor an anticipated relief, which I could specifically name, I cannot possibly have completed the Choice or Avoidance operation in my mind yet."

    Would you agree that this rephrased statement is correct?

    (Of course, after having Chosen / decided to Avoid something, I also need to follow through; that's not what I am wondering about, though. I'm specifically looking at what happens beforehand.)

    I'm feeling something subtle here...perhaps to name it as "an urge to control everything". And I think that this attitude can become a problem. There are a lot of things that happen just by chance, but we make do and go with the flow. But it is very good to focus on the important things when making choices, such as where to go to college, what to major in, whether to get into a relationship for the purpose of marriage or stay single, or whether or not to have children. But there are a lot of small things that often don't matter, in my opinion (such as whether or not, or when, to clean the bathroom mirror, and it depends on each individual as to what brings pleasure and pain).

    So I don't think it is important to feel or notice whether or not you've "completed the choice and avoidance operation" (as you stated above), because many things we do are based on habits that are automatic. If we do feel some pain then we should look to see what were doing wrong and then work on making changes to our habits.

  • Is there Choice without satisfaction? What's the name of the pleasure of Choice itself?

    Just throwing this into the mix, from Cicero's Torquatus section:

    Quote

    [62] XIX. But these doctrines may be stated in a certain manner so as not merely to disarm our criticism, but actually to secure our sanction. For this is the way in which Epicurus represents the wise man as continually happy; he keeps his passions within bounds; about death he is indifferent; he holds true views concerning the eternal gods apart from all dread; he has no hesitation in crossing the boundary of life, if that be the better course. Furnished with these advantages he is continually in a state of pleasure, and there is in truth no moment at which he does not experience more pleasures than pains. For he remembers the past with thankfulness, and the present is so much his own that he is aware of its importance and its agreeableness, nor is he in dependence on the future, but awaits it while enjoying the present; he is also very far removed from those defects of character which I quoted a little time ago, and when he compares the fool’s life with his own, he feels great pleasure. And pains, if any befall him, have never power enough to prevent the wise man from finding more reasons for joy than for vexation.

    And highlighting this section:

    "For he remembers the past with thankfulness, and the present is so much his own that he is aware of its importance and its agreeableness, nor is he in dependence on the future, but awaits it while enjoying the present;"

    So this would be about a kind of satisfaction because of the agreeableness of the present moment. And it seems like it would be a kind of a feeling of flow, not striving over things, not worry or ruminating, because one's "house" (life) is set up properly and in order.

  • Dealing with Irritability (How to be Less Reactive)

    I think Epicurus would approve of doing things to increase the pleasant experiences of life, which would also mean transforming those things which are getting in the way of the fullness of the enjoyment of life.

    I found this very good video, which explains the causes of reactivity (and irritability) and how to begin to make some changes.

    I think the next step which should follow this video, would be working on increasing problem solving skills in difficult situations (and negotiation skills too).

    (I have watched two other videos by this same Youtube channel and they seem very helpful).

  • What is Virtue and what aspects of Virtue does an Epicurean cultivate?

    I want to start a discussion on the topic of virtue (aspects of which may have already been discussed in the past) but mainly because it seems that this topic hasn't has enough time in the limelight as what it deserves.

    Principal Doctrine 5 - An Epicurean sees virtue as important for a happy and pleasurable life because it is the means to a happy and pleasurable life - virtue is itself not the end goal but is the way that leads to a pleasurable life.

    So up for discussion is anything from Epicurean philosophy (including from Philodemus) that touches on development of virtue for the sake of a happy and pleasurable life.

    I will start off with thinking about how we understand the word "virtue" in our current times.

    Here is the opening from Wikipedia:

    Quote

    A virtue (Latin: virtus) is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is valued as an end purpose of life or a foundational principle of being. In human practical ethics, a virtue is a disposition to choose actions that succeed in showing high moral standards: doing what is said to be right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour, even when doing so may be unnecessary from a utilitarian perspective. When someone takes pleasure in doing what is right, even when it is difficult or initially unpleasant, they can establish virtue as a habit. Such a person is said to be virtuous through having cultivated such a disposition. The opposite of virtue is vice.

    (Wikipedia has more on this here).

  • Dealing with stress, coping skills, and how to improve mood

    Another article on savoring, but this one includes savoring relationship moments with friends and family: (and somewhat related to Vatican Sayings 23 & 34):

    Excerpt:

    Quote

    Think of a time when someone did something really nice for you, or you did something really nice for them. Just bringing up that memory probably makes you feel good — about that person, the nice thing that happened and maybe about some other stuff too.

    Jessica Borelli, a professor of psychological science at University of California, Irvine, has developed a technique that focuses on these kinds of memories to help people feel more secure in their relationships. Relational savoring encourages clients to take a deep dive into these meaningful moments.

    Article: How the science of savoring can help you nurture your relationships

  • Episode 271 - TD01 - Understanding Epicurus Through Tusculan Disputations

    Touching on the topic of the nature of death which came up during the podcast recording...here is an interesting article... a modern understanding of "What Really Happens When You Die":

    Excerpt:

    Quote

    When you die, you have to have your death certified by a doctor and a death certificate or a cremation certificate issued. If we have had contact with a patient in the previous two weeks and know the cause of death - if someone has been terminally ill, say - we can sign the death certificate immediately. If we haven't seen the patient in the two weeks before their death, or if they have died after being discharged from hospital, then we must report it to the coroner, who may request a postmortem. The coroner may also request a postmortem if drugs or alcohol are suspected, or if there's any suggestion of a violent death. It's my job to say if somebody is dead, not how they died.

    What I'm essentially looking for is brainstem activity. The brainstem is the part of the brain where the body's vital functions are controlled - the breathing, the heart, the brain itself; it is the computer room of the body. If that bit of the brain is dead, then the person is essentially dead. You can still have reflex actions, so you may twitch after death.

    To certify that someone is dead, you listen to the heart for one minute and feel for a pulse for one minute. You examine for signs of breathing, you look at the pupils to check there is no response to a shining light. If you're not certain, you can rub on the breastbone, which is a very painful procedure: if they are not dead, they'll quickly jump up and say, "That hurt!"

    Nowadays there are machine tests for brainstem death that involve connecting up the brain and looking at the activity. Those tests would be done before organ donation.

    Read the full article here

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