The attitude to have when working at your Job

Good post!

Even jobs we've chosen can sometimes overwhelm us. I have Vatican Saying 35 hanging in my office pointing toward my desk to remind me of this. It doesn't mean we can't always look for new opportunities if the chance comes, but ...

VS35 Don't ruin the things you have by wanting what you don't have, but realize that they too are things you once did wish for. οὐ δεῖ λυμαίνεσθαι τὰ παρόντα τῶν ἀπόντων ἐπιθυμίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ἐπιλογίζεσθαι ὅτι καὶ ταῦτα τῶν εὐκταίων ἦν.

I try to remember that going to work is a choice. We always have the choice to not go to work. But would that choice give us pleasure or pain? Most likely, in the end, we wouldn't have enough money if we didn't go to work, so we go. Can we look for a different job? Of course! But that isn't always feasible with health care being job-tied at least in the US. I like the attitude Eoghan Gardiner is putting forward. That coupled with VS35 can hopefully get us through the day.

Quote from Eoghan Gardiner

How many times have we heard of men and women in their 70s beginning to enjoy retirement and then their natural end has come?

I agree with both posts above and when we think about the choice to approach life cheerfully or sadly, we can always remember that death is inevitable, and we don't get an extension of time for the period we spend moping around feeling sad. The end comes too soon whether we've spent our time cheerfully or not, so to the best of our ability we need to spend time as enjoyably as we can.

I would only add the importance of being aware of your feelings of pleasure and pain, and make choices and avoidances accordingly.

As Don mentioned, even a dream job has negative aspects and days where you're just not into being there. But from time to time it can be useful to take stock of your situation. Beyond financial necessity, are you getting any sort of gratification from your work or are you trying to paper over misery with a coating of pleasure?

I sometimes think of Epicurean ethics as applying on different "levels". This isn't a matter of ranking pleasures, but is an understanding that some aspects of life have a greater overall effect on a person than others. For example, for me, fully embracing the Epicurean worldview has an extremely wide ranging effect. How we spend the majority of our time (job, living situation &c) also has great importance. I try to persue desires or pleasures which resonate throughout my experience.

One model that I've come across that I've applied to choices and avoidances is to take into consideration autonomy (am I in a situation where I'm able to do things which are important to me?), competence (am I able to feel a sense of growth or accomplishment in what I'm doing?) and relatedness (friendship, being in nature, feeling awe, connectedness). I consider these aspects to be varieties of pleasure, and when I can combine all three I tend to find a particular richness in the particular activity.

Quote from Eoghan Gardiner

41. At one and the same time we must philosophize, laugh, and manage our household and other business, while never ceasing to proclaim the words of true philosophy.

41. One must laugh and seek wisdom and tend to one's home life and use one's other goods, and always recount the pronouncements of true philosophy. γελᾶν ἅμα δεῖ (one must) καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν (philosophein) καὶ οἰκονομεῖν καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς οἰκειώμασι χρῆσθαι καὶ μηδαμῇ λήγειν τὰς ἐκ τῆς ὀρθῆς φιλοσοφίας φωνὰς ἀφιέντας.

I wanted to comment on the translation Eoghan Gardiner used initially. Plus, to me this sounds like mindfulness! Do all while philosophizing.

I like to note that several translations put philosophize first when instead the first word in Greek is γελᾶν, the infinitive of γελάω "laugh." So the emphasis is on the laughing first. Syntax not being constrained by word order like English (Joe bit the dog vs The dog but Joe), ancient Greek can choose what to emphasize by word order. The translations should really be something like: "One must laugh and - at the same time - pursue the love wisdom, administer the rest of one's household affairs,..." I really like the coupling of laughing and philosophizing. I wonder if this is an echo of Democritus.

Greek Word Study Tool

Not to belabor this any longer than necessary, but I also found the very end of that saying enjoyable as well:

ἐκ τῆς ὀρθῆς φιλοσοφίας φωνὰς ἀφιέντας.

ek tēs orthēs philosophias phōnas aphientas.

That last word, translated as "recount" had the connotation (see LSJ entry above) of "let loose" or "let fly from oneself." So, I see echoes of the epicurean "triumph-song" noted elsewhere in the texts. Let loose, baby!!

The orthēs is the same ortho- as in orthodox or orthography.

Quote from Godfrey

are you trying to paper over misery with a coating of pleasure?

Just out of curiosity - is this what Epicurus was doing in his final days when he was (apparently) cheerful and in high spirits even though he was in tremendous pain? Where is the line drawn for when it's ideal to find pleasure in less than ideal circumstances and when that's a delusion being used to mask the pain?

Quote from Don

I wonder if this is an echo of Democritus.

Philosophus Ridens: the Laughing Philosopher.

"Best is for a person to live a cheerful life as little distressed as possible."

"A life without festivity is a long road without an inn."

--Democritus

From a poem I wrote a couple of years back, entitled “Democritus Ridens.” (The quotes I posted above were the epigraph for the poem.)

He taught the world is round, fashioned of atoms whirling

in space -- that cheerfulness is a flourishing fountain

of health, a natural spring to cure our fevered fears.

Plato hated him: too much mirth, too little divine.

Epicurus, with liberating swerve, welcomed him

-- and all us commoners -- into his pleasant garden.

Now this amiable sage lampoons my gravity,

pretentious habits of self-baiting guilt and despair,

glancing askance in amusement from his portrait perch --

with an anachronistic plume-feather in his cap.

My plea, on this day weighing down like an iron sigh:

“O Philosophus Ridens, enlighten me to laugh!”

~ ~ ~

Coda:

Let us offer to those who suffer daily travail

at least the respite of cheerfulness: a festive inn,

however rustic, along the wearying long road—

_______________________________

“Plume feather”: reference to a reproduction I have of a painting by Jacob Duck (c. 1600-1667), titled “Laughing Democritus Seated Next To A Terrestrial Globe”

Quote from reneliza

Quote from Godfrey

are you trying to paper over misery with a coating of pleasure?

Just out of curiosity - is this what Epicurus was doing in his final days when he was (apparently) cheerful and in high spirits even though he was in tremendous pain? Where is the line drawn for when it's ideal to find pleasure in less than ideal circumstances and when that's a delusion being used to mask the pain?

I get the impression that Godfrey was referring to when we try fooling ourselves. With Epicurus, no doubt that he felt and acknowledged his pain - no getting around that - but he could also experience pleasure in the memory of talking with friends. What he wrote was:

My continual sufferings from strangury and dysentery are so great that nothing could augment them ; but over against them all I set gladness of mind at the remembrance of our past conversations.

The word for "over against them" had the connotation of holding ground against as in the line of battle. So, he was in great pain, but he fought against that - arrayed himself against that - with memories of friendship. He didn't paper over anything, he used his life's philosophy to fight against what would otherwise have been overwhelming and what did in short order actual kill him.

That's a great question reneliza !

In the quote that you referenced I was attempting to articulate some of my thinking regarding pleasure and pain as guides. Part of the difficult work in following this ethical theory is to really listen to and feel our pain. Sometimes that pain is in the foreground as Epicurus described on his deathbed, but sometimes it's more of a chronic ache that we've become used to living with. It's the latter situation that I was trying to address.

We always seek to have a balance of pleasure over pain; sometimes we just need to take a penetrating look at our pain and examine a variety of solutions to what's ailing us. *Ideally*, we've been able to structure our lives so that each of our various "roles" brings us a balance of pleasure. If there's a particular role that brings a balance of pain, maybe there's a way to treat that. Or you could look at it as different "levels" of pleasures... or "reaches" of pleasure. What comes immediately to mind for me as a deep level or far reaching pleasure is an understanding of one's guiding philosophy, as this has a positive effect on all aspects of my life. Others are what Epicurus refers to as natural and necessary desires, which can give a person a grounding of pleasure in their life.

As for Epicurus on his deathbed, he knew it was the end for him and he was enjoying looking back on a life well lived, despite his extreme pain. That wasn't papering over pain, but an experience that anybody would want (sans the extreme pain!). And you don't have to die to do it, you can look back on a day well lived, or any experience well lived, and bask in a certain joy.

Thank you for raising this topic Eoghan Gardiner, this is something I often find myself battling with, some great suggestions to reflect upon and apply to one’s attitude to/at work