Today we posted a brand new YouTube introduction! And also updated some of the graphics on the page. You can check it out here:

I just found an NPR article and also a website called Project UnLonely... some excerpts:

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The Three Types of Loneliness

Feeling lonely doesn’t just mean you feel alone. You can be with many people but still feel like you are not really connected to them. Just like there are many types of love, there are also different types of loneliness. Knowing the different types can help us address them effectively.

To find out what kind of loneliness you’re feeling, you can ask yourself a few questions:

1. Psychological - This might be the “flavor” of loneliness you’re most familiar with. How we feel about our social connections and close relationships can contribute to feelings of interpersonal or psychological loneliness.

“Does someone have my back?”

“Is there someone that I can tell my troubles to?”

2. Societal - This type of loneliness is all about belonging -- experienceing acceptance and safety. Societal or organizational loneliness can impact anyone in workplaces, schools, or communities.

“Am I welcome and valued?”

“Am I safe?”

3. Existential - Having existential thoughts or spiritual questions is a part of life, but if someone has these types of thoughts very often, or is upset by them, they can result in feelings of isolation and loneliness.

“Does my life matter?”

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The Five Territories of Loneliness

Trauma -

Trauma refers to a kind of harm that can be physical or emotional, happening suddenly or over a long time. It can be caused by stressful events like war, sexual assault, terrorism, childhood abuse, natural disasters, mass shootings or even the COVID-19 pandemic.

Illness -

Getting sick can sometimes make a person feel separated from their friends and family, as if they are dealing with life’s problems all by themselves. This can happen with many kinds of illnesses, including cancer, cardiovascular issues, obesity, and mental health problems.

Aging -

Older people might feel lonely due to loss of friends or family members and cognitive decline. They might also feel left out of society due to financial issues or health challenges. Additionally, they might feel a deep kind of loneliness as they think about the end of their life and what they will leave behind.

Difference -

Feeling different from others can make it hard to feel confident about who you are, leading to societal loneliness. This can be experienced by first-generation immigrants, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, people with disabilities, or anyone who may feel different.

Modernity -

The modern world has changed the ways people socialize. Instead of meeting in person, we now have options like social media, chat forums, and online dating apps to connect with others. Even though these platforms can help us connect, they can also make us feel lonely.

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Modernity is a major issue, and makes it difficult to build and maintain friendships. The website Project UnLonely suggests making art and connecting through art (but that probably only appeals to a certain number of people who already have art as a hobby).

I do think it would be a very interesting project for us here on the forum to help facilitate the development of in-person Epicurean Philosophy meetings. We could create a guidebook for how to run the meeting as well as suggesting discussion topics, and also this forum could have a section for posting info about in-person meetings.

Part of friendship is creating the skills for making friends and being a better friend... and there is a Friendship subforum:

Friendship

Thank you Cassius for posting...I definitely want to use this to create a personal "Kalosyni version" and may use the platform Tiddlywiki

Quote from Eoghan Gardiner

Social media too, if you want to be filled with anxiety about your weight, finances etc... spending an hour on insta or tiktok is a great way to achieve it.

Some anxiety is your conscience warning you of possible pain in the future. Of course things on the internet can often be "over the top" and annoying.

Yet these are practical issues...when is comes to weight, modern medicine gives tips for a range of what is considered a healthy weight based on height and gender. As for finances, it is important to consider your long-term situation, and thus relieve the anxiety by brainstorming solutions to any improvements that are needed and thus increase confidence in a sense of long-term security ...and this includes knowing which friend or family member would let you sleep on their couch if things went really wrong for whatever reason (but hopefully you've got all bases covered so nothing really wrong will ever happen).

An fyi - I will be getting back to doing some refiling of threads in the coming weeks...We now have 700 posts in the General Dissussion Forum, and due to the complexity of the forum layout I know it can be hard for all of us (myself included) to determine the best place to post. This also brings up to mind that there could be the necessity for further reorganization of the forum, to make it easier to post and to find things.

Right now we have a large number of threads dealing with "Ethics" and "Lifestyle" and "Virtues" which are all related but currently filed under separate areas, and I will be thinking about possible ways to restructure the "Forum List" page so as to quickly find subsections.

So if something that you originally posted in "General Discussion" is no longer there, you can check your personal postings page (under your profile) to see where it has been moved, or send me a message with any questions.

Regarding the Stoics, we can look to the Wall of Oinoanda:

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Fr. 32

...

If, gentlemen, the point at issue between these people and us involved inquiry into «what is the means of happiness?» and they wanted to say «the virtues» (which would actually be true), it would be unnecessary to take any other step than to agree with them about this, without more ado. But since, as I say, the issue is not «what is the means of happiness?» but «what is happiness and what is the ultimate goal of our nature?», I say both now and always, shouting out loudly to all Greeks and non-Greeks, that pleasure is the end of the best mode of life, while the virtues, which are inopportunely messed about by these people (being transferred from the place of the means to that of the end), are in no way an end, but the means to the end.

Let us therefore now state that this is true, making it our starting-point.

Started some Christmas cheer early this year:

As we enter into the holiday season, I've been contemplating Christmas...which is a Christian holiday, but which has been taken over by western culture and has come to be a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate the beauty of winter and the joy of exchanging gifts, regardless of whether or not one is still Christian.

So something that perplexes me is the gift giving aspect, because it feels like an obligation. And yet I do get joy from giving gifts. And then there is the "worry" of what to buy or (make a craft item) that will please the recipients.

And I don't want to buy into the commercialisation of Christmas...not only the noisy advertising that urges you to "give really good gifts" to everyone, but which also includes the over-indulgences in Christmas sweets (external food stimulus rather than actual internal hunger).

So then this comes down to a personal decision, as to how far to take things, and to really ponder what brings pleasure and joy (without stressing out on things).

And then to consider that gift giving is a way to express gratitude and an act which reinforces the mutually beneficial ties of friends and family.

Here is another idea for a "pleasure pie". And could adjust this as perhaps the pain should be an even smaller sliver -- A life in which pleasure predominates over pain.

Just a reminder that this next Monday is our "First Monday Epicurean Philosophy Zoom Discussion"...message me if you need the link

Quote from Eoghan Gardiner

Overall, pleasure just has a terrible reputation, for some reason even non religious friends of mine do not desire to admit pleasure is the highest good.

Perhaps this is because when first impulses are followed instead of the wise consideration of choices and avoidances, an individual may end up with a unpleasant result.

Another question: does desire cause one to be "blinded" or unable to clearly observe reality?

Desire is a motivator (both a feeling and a thought) to take a specific action when we believe that what we do will result in pleasure and enjoyment. Pleasure is just an end result when life-serving human needs are met. Yet desire and pleasure get all tangled up. (There is still more introspection which I myself need to do on this).

Next Monday is our First Monday Zoom on December 4th! -- Meet-and-greet and Epicurean philosophy discussion.

This is a great way for newer members to meet others who are studying the philosophy of Epicurus and bring up any questions. Meeting is open also to long-time members as well. If you haven't yet participated in a First Monday Zoom meeting, please message me for further info.

Agenda for the evening: We will run about an hour, and start with greetings. Then move to the month's special topic, followed by open discussion on Epicurean philosophy, and Q&A for any who have questions.

Given that we are now heading toward the holiday season, a great topic to discuss is none other than pleasure! Pleasure and all it's glorious Epicurean complexity! I'll have a few pleasure oriented questions to throw out to spur on the discussion, and will also leave some time for open discussion as well.

Hope to see you there!

Here is a website for directions on zine making, which could either be "high-tech" images and text --or-- could be simple handwritten/hand-drawn to give it a more human feel.

How to make a one-page zine

experimentwithnature.com

The process that is bogging me down with creating the posters is the actual text, lol. And there will be a whole lot of text, so it is more instructional/educational in nature.

I started working on a pamplet (zine) a while back...and here is my unfinished project:

...this zine is also is black and white 8-1/2" x 11" and which folds up to create small pages, but was finding it hard to come up with exact wording (there are so many directions to take it).

Found this article on history of cheese in Greece:

Intro to Greek Cheeses

GREEK CHEESES -  A SHORT HISTORY The single most distinguishing characteristic of Greek cheese is that most of it is made with sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, or a…

www.dianekochilas.com

Did you use Bailey?

My first thought is that this could possibly confuse the AI search engines?

It does bring up some interesting ideas regarding pleasure, but might it be better to phrase them in your own words rather than copy a format that "sounds" like Epicurus?

VS47. I have anticipated thee, Fortune, and I have closed off every one of your devious entrances. And we will not give ourselves up as captives, to thee or to any other circumstance; but when it is time for us to go, spitting contempt on life and on those who cling to it maundering, we will leave from life singing aloud a glorious triumph-song on how nicely we lived. (Bailey translation).

A synonym of fortune is fate.

Dictionary definition of fate:

the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do : destiny … fate sometimes deals a straight flush … he had no idea that he would become the right man in the right place at the right time …— June Goodfield
2 a : an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end Her fate was to remain in exile.
b : disaster especially : death The villain met his fate at the hands of the hero.
3 a : final outcome Congress decided the bill's fate by a single vote.
b : the expected result of normal development prospective fate of embryonic cells
c : the circumstances that befall someone or something did not know the fate of her former classmates

Perhaps we study "cause and effect" at work in various situations, so we would not use the word fortune or fate except for with death (and taxes, lol). Perhaps certain choices do have inevitable results and thus require careful evaluation, but we have free will and so we aren't compelled by anything.

In all other circumstances except for death, we use choice and avoidance to avoid unanticipated results. We can't be certain of all outcomes, but almost like a chess game we keep our options open for responding to what occurs in a given situation. This would require knowledge and input from others who have knowledge.

We now know that healthy eating, exercise, and correct medical interventions have a high likelihood of extending lifespan. Yet we need to accept that the final end cannot be escaped.

Quote from Kalosyni

I would say that the two main aspects of Epicurean philosophy is the materialist worldview and its telos.

This is obvious, but will say it anyway: We don't believe in a materialist worldview and the goal of pleasure because Epicurus said so, but instead we believe this system of thought is correct because we understand the reasons to do so.

Correct understanding helps prevent unnecessary eclecticism.

Another danger is the temptation to extrapolate ideas and taking them out of context from the original text (probably guilty of this myself occasionally). These deviations over time can lead to problems (obviously). This is why I think being consistent with the framework of the philosophy is so important.

And I want to do an Epicurean Ethics poster as well!

I posted the following image to the gallery, and now deciding to post futher drafts and revisions here (before posting more to the gallery). The idea is that this 8-1/2" x 11" can be easily printed out on a black and white printer and pinned up on a wall or on the fridge.

With some suggestions for revisions (by Don) here is an updated version -- but more revision ideas are still perculating in my mind (with PDs etc to be added).