Happy Twentieth of June (2019)!

    Happy Twentieth of June to all of our participants in discussions on Epicurus! Thanks to all of you who join in these discussions. They are helpful in so many ways, both to us individually and to our common desire to see Epicurean philosophy better understood and more widely accessible throughout the world. Remember, this is why we talk:


    Happy Twentieth! I've decided to try something. I'll start using the twentieth of each month to outline actionable goals in pursuit of Epicurean happiness, and try to make progress toward those goals in the following month.


    My goals for between June 20 and July 20;


    Peace goal--stop reading things on the internet that I know will be calculated to frustrate me. There's nothing wrong with internet engagement; I just want to make sure I'm using it in an intentional way. I worry about how much time I will regret having wasted on trivial and fruitless news cycles that will be lost in a week anyway.


    Security goal--return to cash and debit as exclusive modes of exchange, with a view toward giving up the false security of a wallet full of credit cards. I'm sure that using credit cards contributes to overspending, even though I don't pay interest on them. Just time to let them go, I think.


    Pleasure goal--It's something I've always wanted to do, but I still haven't figured out the right way to study languages on the road (I find pimsleur while driving to be just a little too distracting.) I have a few Latin texts in the truck already, including Hans Ørberg, so I'm just going to dive in on memorizing Latin declensions and reading directly.


    Immortal blessings!

    -josh

    That is an excellent suggestion Joshua! Other than noting the date on the internet we really haven't come up with a regular way to mark it. We ought eventually plan to have some kind of on-line "meeting" - but so far our geographic spread has stood in the way of picking a mutually-agreeable time. Let's brainstorm over time to see if we can't come up with a way to mark the day more personally.


    Your peace goal is one of my major issues too. The internet is a bottomless pit of distraction, and it's essential that we find ways to prioritize our time so that we make progress toward achieving our personal goals, rather than getting sucked into other peoples' dramas that add nothing to our own happiness.


    That applies directly to the 'money' aspect as well. Credit and interest make us slaves and we ought to avoid them to the extent possible.

    In Latin I know that there are "total immersion" theories that might work in an audio-only context. I haven't looked into that in many years but I will try to refresh myself too.

    Maybe there is a way we can develop something that would help us with Lucretius!