Getting older

    I came across this and thought it had an Epicurean feel. I don't know anything about the author, Mario de Andrade, but I really liked the sentiments here and wanted to share them with you.


    “I counted my years and found that I have less time to live from here on than I have lived up to now.

    I feel like that child who won a packet of sweets: he ate the first with pleasure, but when he realized that there were few left, he began to enjoy them intensely.

    I no longer have time for endless meetings where statutes, rules, procedures and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be achieved.

    I no longer have time to support the absurd people who, despite their chronological age, haven't grown up. My time is too short: I want the essence, my soul is in a hurry.

    I don't have many sweets in the package anymore.

    I want to live next to human people, very human, who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their triumphs and who take on their responsibilities.

    Thus, human dignity is defended and we move towards truth and honesty. It is the essential that makes life worth living.

    I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch hearts, people who have been taught by the hard blows of life to grow with gentle touches of the soul.

    Yes, I'm in a hurry, I'm in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

    I don't intend to waste any of the leftover sweets. I am sure they will be delicious, much more than what I have eaten so far.

    My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience. We have two lives and the second begins when you realize you only have one. "

    - Mario de Andrade

    Quote from EricR

    I no longer have time for endless meetings where statutes, rules, procedures and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be achieved.

    That one in particular hits home with me. In my perfect world, if there were degrees of punishment, I would reserve the worst for the inventor - or even more, for those who seem to love the invention and the inventor - of Robert's Rules of Order!


    The very mention of the subject makes me see red! Nothing sends me to the exits like hearing "Point of order!!"

    It's a lovely piece and I see a lot of Epicurean ideas expressed in it as well!


    I think one thing that comes up for me in the closing of the piece is the hurriedness that he evokes, and the idea of scarcity of his pleasures, or "sweets". I feel like I slip into this state from time to time since studying Epicurus. It seems indicative of a yearning and eagerness to revelry and to generate those good times which make good memories that comes with putting Pleasure first. Still though, I try to calm the hurriedness and realize the true good in life isn't hard to obtain, and usually in that turn of thought, even my fear of death begins to fade. I don't need to wait until some distant (or near) End to be satisfied. Perhaps I can be satisfied now.

    Still though, I like that his use of '[life's] essence' is followed by a description of the people he'd like to be around. Perhaps I am thinking too ascetically in the last paragraph, and a chief practice of an Epicurean is adeptly arranging and engaging in one's inter-personal and social life.

    Thanks so much for sharing!

    Quote from Root304

    and a chief practice of an Epicurean is adeptly arranging and engaging in one's inter-personal and social life.

    Yes I think so! "Adeptly arranging and engaging" seems to me to be a very good description of what nature requires us to do if we want to be successful in life (prudently pursuing pleasure).

    I appreciate you sharing your findings! A lot of wisdom in these words, a lot hit home personally.


    I enjoyed this line from an Epicurean standpoint:

    Quote from EricR

    I want to live next to human people, very human, who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their triumphs and who take on their responsibilities.


    While "human" allows the reader to insert any traits they want to describe the type of person they want to live around, a community that laughs at their mistakes(forgiveness), are not inflated by their triumphs(against unnatural and unnecessary desires), and take on their responsibilities (trust) seems very in line with Epicureanism to me.


    Thanks!

    -Chris

    Fewer the seasons that lie ahead,

    the slower I find that I travel –

    not in fear, only needless of haste:


    movin’ slow, livin’ easy,

    letting time turn on its own.