Living off the land

Quote from Don

...it is not out of the question in my opinion to consider periodic fasting or intervals of caloric restriction to be well within Epicurean practice. I'm not ready to call for either as a regular lifestyle but could easily see the teachers and students of the Garden periodically taking part in these and comparing results with each other. When you pay attention to your feeling of pleasure, is your meal truly satisfying?

The idea occurred to me that I could make the 20th more special if I refrained from sweets for the week or 10 days before the 20th. The modern world makes sweets way too easily available, and so having a sort of "reset" period would make the experience more enjoyable. (It shouldn't be like the Christian Lent, but simply a voluntary individual thing).

Quote from HsiehKW

I think a close community can be very helpful to practice. For me, I think this forum is a great way to compensate for the lack of face-to-face fellowship and the opportunity to learn from others, especially from those who have been at it longer, have some mastery, and exhibit impressive scholarship. But I wonder if any of us here have a sort of close community of Epicurean friends nearby, how that helps, and any tips on how you go about it if you are without such.

I hope to one day start an in-person Epicurean philosophy group, and it would meet weekly. I need to get some materials together for that still (some hand-outs for reading) and it would be both a study group and a social group. There is the logistical hurdle of deciding where to have the meeting and how to advertise it.

Quote from Kalosyni

There is the logistical hurdle of deciding where to have the meeting and how to advertise it.

Just a possibility: depending on where you live, the Unitarian Churches are generally very open to various groups (the one in my community has a Wiccan group that meets, and I have known of Zen roshis and Taoists being Unitarian ministers). They might be happy to provide meeting space, depending on their general schedule. (Also, they ight offer some advertising via the church bulletin.)

In my neighborhood there's an Episcopalian church that, until COVID, provided spaces for a Zen sitting group and a yoga studio. I don't know if that's common practice or the work of an enlightened priest, but that might be another option to explore. Although opening up to Epicureans might be beyond the pale!

Was thinking about this thread today after I listened to John Prine's 'Spanish Pipedream.'

Little Rocker : your post had some embed code that didn't seem to be working. I hope you don't mind I fixed it.

Thanks Little Rocker ..."blow up your TV" . Good thing it was "throw away your papers" and not your books! Also liked the line "try to find Jesus on your own". The equivalent might be find Epicurus on your own (It's not possible to start a meet-up group unless you are in a big enough city).

But the true reality of living out in the country these days is it can be hard to (or expensive) to get internet, or good quality internet. (Starlink can be spotty and slow).

Although, living out in the country could include "blowing up your internet" ...but I couldn't live without it!

Quote from Godfrey

In my neighborhood there's an Episcopalian church that, until COVID, provided spaces for a Zen sitting group and a yoga studio. I don't know if that's common practice or the work of an enlightened priest, but that might be another option to explore. Although opening up to Epicureans might be beyond the pale!

Your mentioning of such a church reminds me of the Unitarian Universalist churches, so I wanted to mention them here to add onto the potential spaces for in-person meet-ups.

While it's also true that some churches are friendly to hosting group meeting for alternative viewpoints and beliefs, your best bet to contact and ask would be Unitarian Universalist churches. This branch of practice is highly eclectic and, though historically from Christianity, has become a church of many different faiths and beliefs including Humanists and Atheists! Due to the eclecticism of the congregations, they're basically open minded and pluralistic community churches.

Sounds like a contradiction, I know, but there's a long history behind that. Too much to put here.

So if anyone is near one, they would be some of the first to reach out to to see about establishing an Epicurean group in person!