1. New
    1. Member Announcements
  2. Home
    1. Get Started - Activities
    2. Posting Policies
    3. Community Standards
    4. Terms of Use
    5. Moderator Team
    6. Site Map
    7. Quizzes
    8. Articles
      1. Featured Articles
    9. All Blog Posts
      1. Elli's Blog / Articles
  3. Wiki
    1. Wiki Home
    2. FAQ
    3. Classical Epicureanism
    4. Physics
    5. Canonics
    6. Ethics
    7. Search Assistance
    8. Not NeoEpicurean
    9. Foundations
    10. Navigation Outlines
    11. Key Pages
  4. Forum
    1. New Activity
    2. New Threads
    3. Welcome
    4. General Discussion
    5. Featured
    6. Activism
    7. Shortcuts
    8. Dashboard
    9. Full Forum List
    10. Level 3+
    11. Most Discussed
  5. Podcast
    1. Lucretius Today Podcast
    2. Episode Guide
    3. Lucretius Today At Youtube
    4. EpicureanFriends Youtube Page
  6. Texts
    1. Overview
    2. Diogenes Laertius
    3. Principal Doctrines
    4. Vatican Sayings
    5. Lucretius
    6. Herodotus
    7. Pythocles
    8. Menoeceus
    9. Fragments - Usener Collection
    10. Torquatus On Ethics
    11. Velleius On Gods
    12. Greek/Latin Help
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured images
    2. Albums
    3. Latest Images
    4. Latest Comments
  8. Calendar
    1. Upcoming Events List
    2. Zoom Meetings
    3. This Month
    4. First Monday Zoom Meetings
    5. Wednesday Zoom Meeting
    6. Twentieth Zoom Meetings
    7. Zoom Meetings
  9. Other
    1. Featured Content
    2. Blog Posts
    3. Files
    4. Logbook
    5. EF ToDo List
    6. Link-Database
  • Login
  • Register
  • Search
This Thread
  • Everywhere
  • This Thread
  • This Forum
  • Forum
  • Articles
  • Blog Articles
  • Files
  • Gallery
  • Events
  • Pages
  • Wiki
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • More Options

Welcome To EpicureanFriends.com!

"Remember that you are mortal, and you have a limited time to live, and in devoting yourself to discussion of the nature of time and eternity you have seen things that have been, are now, and are to come."

Sign In Now
or
Register a new account
  1. New
    1. Member Announcements
  2. Home
    1. Get Started - Activities
    2. Posting Policies
    3. Community Standards
    4. Terms of Use
    5. Moderator Team
    6. Site Map
    7. Quizzes
    8. Articles
      1. Featured Articles
    9. All Blog Posts
      1. Elli's Blog / Articles
  3. Wiki
    1. Wiki Home
    2. FAQ
    3. Classical Epicureanism
    4. Physics
    5. Canonics
    6. Ethics
    7. Search Assistance
    8. Not NeoEpicurean
    9. Foundations
    10. Navigation Outlines
    11. Key Pages
  4. Forum
    1. New Activity
    2. New Threads
    3. Welcome
    4. General Discussion
    5. Featured
    6. Activism
    7. Shortcuts
    8. Dashboard
    9. Full Forum List
    10. Level 3+
    11. Most Discussed
  5. Podcast
    1. Lucretius Today Podcast
    2. Episode Guide
    3. Lucretius Today At Youtube
    4. EpicureanFriends Youtube Page
  6. Texts
    1. Overview
    2. Diogenes Laertius
    3. Principal Doctrines
    4. Vatican Sayings
    5. Lucretius
    6. Herodotus
    7. Pythocles
    8. Menoeceus
    9. Fragments - Usener Collection
    10. Torquatus On Ethics
    11. Velleius On Gods
    12. Greek/Latin Help
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured images
    2. Albums
    3. Latest Images
    4. Latest Comments
  8. Calendar
    1. Upcoming Events List
    2. Zoom Meetings
    3. This Month
    4. First Monday Zoom Meetings
    5. Wednesday Zoom Meeting
    6. Twentieth Zoom Meetings
    7. Zoom Meetings
  9. Other
    1. Featured Content
    2. Blog Posts
    3. Files
    4. Logbook
    5. EF ToDo List
    6. Link-Database
  1. New
    1. Member Announcements
  2. Home
    1. Get Started - Activities
    2. Posting Policies
    3. Community Standards
    4. Terms of Use
    5. Moderator Team
    6. Site Map
    7. Quizzes
    8. Articles
      1. Featured Articles
    9. All Blog Posts
      1. Elli's Blog / Articles
  3. Wiki
    1. Wiki Home
    2. FAQ
    3. Classical Epicureanism
    4. Physics
    5. Canonics
    6. Ethics
    7. Search Assistance
    8. Not NeoEpicurean
    9. Foundations
    10. Navigation Outlines
    11. Key Pages
  4. Forum
    1. New Activity
    2. New Threads
    3. Welcome
    4. General Discussion
    5. Featured
    6. Activism
    7. Shortcuts
    8. Dashboard
    9. Full Forum List
    10. Level 3+
    11. Most Discussed
  5. Podcast
    1. Lucretius Today Podcast
    2. Episode Guide
    3. Lucretius Today At Youtube
    4. EpicureanFriends Youtube Page
  6. Texts
    1. Overview
    2. Diogenes Laertius
    3. Principal Doctrines
    4. Vatican Sayings
    5. Lucretius
    6. Herodotus
    7. Pythocles
    8. Menoeceus
    9. Fragments - Usener Collection
    10. Torquatus On Ethics
    11. Velleius On Gods
    12. Greek/Latin Help
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured images
    2. Albums
    3. Latest Images
    4. Latest Comments
  8. Calendar
    1. Upcoming Events List
    2. Zoom Meetings
    3. This Month
    4. First Monday Zoom Meetings
    5. Wednesday Zoom Meeting
    6. Twentieth Zoom Meetings
    7. Zoom Meetings
  9. Other
    1. Featured Content
    2. Blog Posts
    3. Files
    4. Logbook
    5. EF ToDo List
    6. Link-Database
  1. EpicureanFriends - Home of Classical Epicurean Philosophy
  2. Forum
  3. Ethics - How To Live As An Epicurean
  4. Ethics - General Discussion
  • Sidebar
  • Sidebar

How To Turn Epicurean Philosophy On Its Head As Quickly As Possible - A Quick Comment on Mark 12

  • Cassius
  • December 21, 2018 at 8:58 AM
  • Go to last post
Regularly Checking In On A Small Screen Device? Bookmark THIS page!
Sunday Weekly Zoom.  This and every upcoming Sunday at 12:30 PM EDT we will continue our new series of Zoom meetings targeted for a time when more of our participants worldwide can attend.   This week our special topic will be: "Is Pain Properly Considered To Be An Evil?" To find out how to attend CLICK HERE.
  • Online
    Cassius
    05 - Administrator
    Points
    102,305
    Posts
    14,006
    Quizzes
    9
    Quiz rate
    100.0 %
    • December 21, 2018 at 8:58 AM
    • #1

    Would you like a short summary of how to exactly and precisely turn Epicurean philosophy, and the natural order of human life itself, on its head? Try this from Mark 12:

    “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

    The truth about the universe as being composed of atoms rather than "divine fire" or other single nonsense, the truth about any sense of "divinity" as being totally natural and not meddling in our affairs, and the truth about pleasure as rooted in what is naturally pleasing to us, as opposed to "virtue."

    The most central truths of life all turned on their head in an instant!

  • Matt
    03 - Member
    Points
    2,976
    Posts
    426
    Quizzes
    4
    Quiz rate
    88.9 %
    • December 21, 2018 at 10:10 AM
    • #2

    The "to love thy neighbor as thyself" is the sum of all Christian philosophy. Without it there is nothing to be gained from the Gospel. For someone who cannot love their neighbor, no matter who they are, will never apprehend nor comprehend any of the other teachings.

    It takes an incredible amount of compassion to love those who would persecute you. It's easy enough to love those who already love you, but how can a person come to have compassion for an enemy? That is powerful because it in fact does turn all human nature on its head. We want to lash out and attack, but we are told to fight against our nature and see it from a different perspective. It is in my opinion a powerful concept, and the lack of it leads to alienation.

    In the spirit of the season, Charles Dickens explained this most powerfully in the Christmas Carol. The Ghost of Christmas Present opens his robe to reveal two children:

    "This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."

  • Online
    Cassius
    05 - Administrator
    Points
    102,305
    Posts
    14,006
    Quizzes
    9
    Quiz rate
    100.0 %
    • December 21, 2018 at 12:03 PM
    • #3

    Yep you definitely see the issue LD! With the greatest of respect to you, I would say pending some translation error or ambiguity the statement is on its face ridiculous. Just because someone is physically next to me, which I think is a fair meaning of the word "neighbor," that certainly does not entitle that person to be "loved" by me to the same degree that I would love my wife, my child, my relatives, my friends, or even "me." To suggest that we should love a terrorist who wants to kill me and that same list of people is in every way unnatural and illogical, no matter whether we want to refer to the Epicurean standard or the Academic standards. So you're right, someone who believes that Nature and reason are the keys to life, to any extent, then an assertion that totally flies in the face of both cannot be accepted. It's "not even wrong" -- loving everyone equally is just an assertion of an ethical standard which has no basis for acceptance than pure faith - which in this case amounts to pure wishful thinking.

    Of course minds a lot better than us have debated these things without resolution, so I doubt we'll reach one either! But I will still say "merry Christmas!"

  • Matt
    03 - Member
    Points
    2,976
    Posts
    426
    Quizzes
    4
    Quiz rate
    88.9 %
    • December 21, 2018 at 3:22 PM
    • #4

    Merry Christmas and...Peace and Safety to you Cassius! I hope we may continue have great discourse into the New Year!

  • Cassius May 31, 2024 at 5:00 PM

    Moved the thread from forum General Discussion to forum Epicurean Ethics - General Discussion and Navigation.

Unread Threads

    1. Title
    2. Replies
    3. Last Reply
    1. Daily life of ancient Epicureans / 21st Century Epicureans 38

      • Like 3
      • Robert
      • May 21, 2025 at 8:23 PM
      • General Discussion
      • Robert
      • May 29, 2025 at 1:44 PM
    2. Replies
      38
      Views
      2.3k
      38
    3. Pacatus

      May 29, 2025 at 1:44 PM
    1. Emily Austin's "LIving For Pleasure" Wins Award. (H/T to Lowri for finding this!)

      • Like 4
      • Cassius
      • May 28, 2025 at 10:57 PM
      • General Discussion
      • Cassius
      • May 28, 2025 at 10:57 PM
    2. Replies
      0
      Views
      186
    1. Confusion: "The feelings are only two" 49

      • Like 3
      • Rolf
      • May 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
      • General Discussion
      • Rolf
      • May 28, 2025 at 1:09 PM
    2. Replies
      49
      Views
      1.3k
      49
    3. Rolf

      May 28, 2025 at 1:09 PM
    1. Brain-storming Ideas for Future Study Groups 10

      • Like 3
      • Kalosyni
      • May 10, 2025 at 11:45 AM
      • General Discussion
      • Kalosyni
      • May 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
    2. Replies
      10
      Views
      422
      10
    3. Patrikios

      May 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
    1. Words of wisdom from Scottish comedian Billy Connolly 5

      • Like 4
      • Don
      • May 25, 2025 at 8:33 AM
      • General Discussion
      • Don
      • May 25, 2025 at 12:27 PM
    2. Replies
      5
      Views
      356
      5
    3. Don

      May 25, 2025 at 12:27 PM

Latest Posts

  • Welcome DerekC!

    Don June 1, 2025 at 3:23 PM
  • Sunday Zoom: "Discussion on the Forum FAQ Section" - Sundays @ 12:30pm EDT

    Kalosyni June 1, 2025 at 1:41 PM
  • Episode 282 - Is A Trifling Pain A Greater Evil Than The Worst Infamy?

    Cassius May 31, 2025 at 9:45 PM
  • Episode 284 - Not Yet Recorded (Cicero Continues His Argument That Sin/Evil Is Worse Than Any Degree of Pain)

    Cassius May 31, 2025 at 8:06 PM
  • Episode 283 - Philosophy For The Millions

    Cassius May 31, 2025 at 6:39 PM
  • Sunday Zoom - How to Attend - Summer 2025

    Cassius May 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
  • Daily life of ancient Epicureans / 21st Century Epicureans

    Pacatus May 29, 2025 at 1:44 PM
  • Happy Birthday General Thread

    Cassius May 29, 2025 at 4:12 AM
  • Emily Austin's "LIving For Pleasure" Wins Award. (H/T to Lowri for finding this!)

    Cassius May 28, 2025 at 10:57 PM
  • Confusion: "The feelings are only two"

    Rolf May 28, 2025 at 1:09 PM

EpicureanFriends - Classical Epicurean Philosophy

  1. Home
    1. About Us
    2. Classical Epicurean Philosophy
  2. Wiki
    1. Getting Started
  3. Frequently Asked Questions
    1. Site Map
  4. Forum
    1. Latest Threads
    2. Featured Threads
    3. Unread Posts
  5. Texts
    1. Core Texts
    2. Biography of Epicurus
    3. Lucretius
  6. Articles
    1. Latest Articles
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured Images
  8. Calendar
    1. This Month At EpicureanFriends
Powered by WoltLab Suite™ 6.0.22
Style: Inspire by cls-design
Stylename
Inspire
Manufacturer
cls-design
Licence
Commercial styles
Help
Supportforum
Visit cls-design