Posts by Hiram

I just received my five-year "congratulations" email from Universal Life Church, which gives ordinations to just about everybody online.

https://www.themonastery.org/aboutUs

It occurred to me that this is one way in which Epicurean Philosophy could assert itself in the mainstream and become part of everyday discussions. It's generally seen as a stamp of societal legitimacy when a movement provides chaplains and celebrants for rites of passage like baby namings, funerals, and weddings--as we've seen with Humanist celebrants. Plus,

• it has become clear recently that some Epicureans feel very strongly that we really are a thing different and distinct from generic humanism, and that a humanist celebrant may or may not speak to the Epicurean soul, and
• Epicurean tradition has VERY specific and particular things to say about life events, particularly memorializing friends and death. We also had our own distinct funeral traditions in Roman antiquity (non fui, fui, non sum, non curo). This means that a unique liturgy evolved in antiquity for the needs of Epicureans. I think this liturgy would speak to many in our world today, particularly atheists.
• Although there are Unitarian ministers (like the Cambridge chaplain, author of the 'Caute' blog) who affirm an Epicurean identity, we have otherwise had almost zero influence on Unitarian chaplains' intellectual formation; and although the Humanist Jews also affirm an Apikorsim identity and have incorporated EP into the formation of their rabbis, we have had no initiative to cooperate in the creation of education material or influence their Epicurean teaching in favor of a more orthodox approach to EP.
• As a result of this, there are really no options for someone who may want to have a ceremony that fits his or her values as an Epicurean as of today.

I personally think that the easiest way to prepare future Epicurean chaplains would be by partnering up with the Ethical Union or a Humanist Group, or even the Unitarian Church, etc. At least initially. If we are distinct and not at all ecumenical, then the idea of an Epicurean chaplaincy program (rather than a collaboration with kindred organizations) might be a way to promote EP as a separate, distinct tradition.

Just a few thoughts. Chaplaincy is much simpler than conventional ordination as rabbi, priest or minister, although it requires a strong background in ethics and the ability to facilitate events.

(P.S. My neighbor Fran, who is a school librarian and started calling himself an Epicurean after reading my book, ministered a gay wedding last year, for which he prepared a short speech, so I already feel like we have an Epicurean chaplain in Chicago. He's got a "high school teacher" "Mr. Rogers" type of personality.)

As for monasteries having originally been Gardens, this is not as far fetched. The Church was thirsty for power and to own property and estate from early on, and the Caesars had proven to be very generous for many decades when, in the sixth century, Justinian closed all the philosophy schools that competed with Christianity. So while the source remains unclear and I'd be curious to find a specific source, it's not difficult to imagine that the Gardens that were closed were handed over to the Church as political favors, as it was the main institution that was consolidating power and wealth at the time. This would fit the political reality of what was happening in the Roman Empire then.

Quote from Cassius

My experience is that Alain is one of many who immediately jump to "pleasure is the absence of pain" so they can write normal feelings of pleasure out of the playbook and then forget about it as they pursue a minimalist / ascetic lifestyle. That minimalist lifestyle, which he has selected for reasons of his own, appears to me to be the true goal of his work.

I do think EP calls for a curriculum of control of desires and that consumerism is a very important target that is problematized by Epicurean ethical doctrine. More specifically the "runaway desires" that are encouraged by instant gratification and consumerism, which breed a constant anxiety and insatiable sense of wanting more. A solution to this need not lead to asceticism or minimalism as lifestyles, but to a sense of satiated gratitude and pleasure.

Uruguayan ex-president José Mujica also cites this as one of the important aspects of the Epicurean Gospel that is important to elevate now that Christianity has failed the West.

Do you remember this from Diogenes' Wall?

Quote

Well, what are the disturbing emotions? [They are] fears —of the gods, of death, and of [pains]— and, besides [these], desires that [outrun] the limits fixed by nature. These are the roots of all evils, and, [unless] we cut them off, [a multitude] of evils will grow [upon] us.

It was clear to Diogenes that "desires that outrun the limits fixed by nature" was one of the major roots of all evil that needed to be cut off at its root.

Winds of Dune also depicts the evils of denial of emotion in the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, and how the moral faculty requires that we consult the emotions. I also see echoes of Plato's Republic in how women are made to bear children only to have them snatched from their hands and raised by the state (a theme we also find in Handmaid's Tale)

https://theautarkist.wordpress.com/2019/05/30/boo…-winds-of-dune/

The only source I remember accentuates that it is natural to yield our personal sovereignty to the state for the sake of safety (“the life of violence and hatred left him sick, and more disposed freely to choose the yoke of law and statute”):

Then kings were killed; the ancient majesty
and pride of sceptre and throne fell, overturned;
the bright ensign of royalty lay bloodied
under the feet of the mob, mourning lost glory:
men lustily trampled what they had vastly feared.
Life sank to the depths, the dregs, back to confusion,
with everyone wanting top rank and highest power.
Then, here and there, men learned to choose officials,
establish constitutions, and live by law.
For man grew weary: the life of violence
and hatred left him sick, and more disposed
freely to choose the yoke of law and statute.
For angered men kept calling for revenge
more savage than just law will now permit;
this made man sicken of life by violence. (DRN V.1136-1150)
… Better by far be subject, and at peace,
than will to govern the world and hold a throne! (DRN V.1129-1130)

https://theautarkist.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/hap…t-and-at-peace/

Did Lucretius address how rights or laws come about?

I'm curious to know what others think about Carlin's frankness, particularly in light of the above discussion among us. It seems like the Founding Fathers believed we had natural rights, and it seems like this stems from their agreeing with Locke (who believed that humans are naturally sociable) and disagreement with Hobbes (who believed that humans are solitary and brutish in their natural state).

http://societyofepicurus.com/to-what-extent…ean-philosophy/

It seems like the argument is that if humans have an inherent, natural morality, then there was something like natural rights that preceded the state. Lucretius seems to confirm that this is in fact what ancient Epicureans believed. (Studies on dogs and monkeys that show that they have a sense of justice and reciprocity seem to confirm this intuition). Typically, these natural rights are expressed as "right to freedom" or non-coercion so long as one respect the similar freedoms of others.

https://theautarkist.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/nat…-on-friendship/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/one-am…riety-happiness

On the Mind-Body Split-https://theautarkist.wordpress.com/2019/06/20/hap…ind-body-split/

Happy 20th Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/fc3bdca0c920/9l7cos6cd7

PLUS, here you may find all the previous Twentieth Messages:

http://societyofepicurus.com/happy-twentieth/

Epicurus on mediocrity?

At least one saying speaks against "the crowd" and its opinions, and how we should be independent from them.

I think this has historical roots in Epicurus experiencing the tyranny of the Platonists at the gym in Mytilene when they exiled him under threat.

I also think of Socrates being executed after a democratic vote, which was a specter hovering over everyone in the recent history of Epicurus' time.

The crowds were perceived to be tyrannical, at least in potential. And stupid, and wrong. The study of nature was seen as the main antidote for this problem, but not everyone was expected to take it up.

And so at least for a philosopher of his day, mediocrity's dangers were mainly tied to consensus, lack of critical thinking, and lack of studying nature.

I shared this hoping that other Epicureans would join the convo

Feel free to join me at the Partially Examined Life group on FB if you'd like to strike a blow for Epicurus

https://www.facebook.com/groups/partial…t=group_comment

Facebook, Google and Bing ads allow for targeting people who search for a specific word online in a specific location (for instance, all the people 30 miles away from Chicago who search for the word "Epicurean"). This would be focused enough to attract likely candidates.

But since we lack visibility, I believe that true, sincere Epicureans should be writing more content also for outside outlets who are friendly, like my articles for The Humanist magazine, for infidels.org, Ateístas de Puerto Rico, etc. all of which have slowly expanded the presence of Epicureans online. If we have more English-speaking intellectuals engaged in the public sphere showing people how much moral guidance Epicurean teachings can furnish to modern problems, people will start seeing us as part of the national conversations.

This is a somewhat passive model of recruitment still. In antiquity, the Garden placed statues (if we are to believe "The Sculpted Word") in key places to attract converts. We have to figure out contemporary alternatives to that. Meme publication only attracts superficial sympathy initially, with few guarantees. A proliferation of Epicurean articles may attract people with more substance. Becoming columnists and contributors in sites like Patheos and others might be one way to do it. If we have at least 2-3 bloggers of this sort with a sustained presence for a few years, this may change the paradigm and have many more looking into Epicureanism. I think Elayne might be the perfect candidate for this because she needs to start building a platform for when she is ready to publish her book.

Relevant to this:

How virtue morphs into beauty in the eye of the beholder – https://aeon.co/essays/how-vir…of-the-beholder

I’ve heard the observation more than once that when people are mad or angry they look ugly. This is used in children’s classes at Buddhist temples to encourage happy interactions. But there are studies that link cheerfulness (and confidence) with being more attractive. So beauty is not entirely about shape and appearance.

Speaking of education--I'm also curious to know how Elayne and others would interpret Vatican Saying 76

76. As you grow old you are such as I urge you to be, and you have recognized the difference between studying philosophy for yourself and studying it for Greece. I rejoice with you.

http://epicurus.net/en/vatican.html

I read an anti-polis / anti-state, somewhat anarchic message into this, that must have repercussions in a philosophy education. I've written before about Epicurean 'cosmopolitanism' (in the blog "community versus polis") as an expression of a certain anarchic undercurrent that is more indifferent than hostile to the polis / state. But this has never been commented on or expanded upon by others.

Concerning aromas he mentions the anecdote of Aristippus wearing perfume at the agora. He turns it into an educational parable.

http://societyofepicurus.com/michel-onfrays…-of-philosophy/

http://societyofepicurus.com/a-counter-history-of-aromas/

Michel Onfray is The only Epicurean that I know to have delved into aesthetics in a significant way (outside of the book “The Sculpted Word” which deals with Epicurean missionary work using sculptures and art to promote our values). If you search for “sculpted word” on this forum you will find my notes on it.

His main work in English is hedonist manifesto and Here he advises an aesthetics education to train ourselves to better relish chosen pleasures:

https://theautarkist.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/cyr…etic-education/

Elsewhere he says that art has a history and he advocates for art that is rooted in philosophical materialism, and which creates meaning rather than admit nihilism as its inspiration.

I think the Epicurean connection here is that we draw value from nature, from reality. Real value, not platonized, denaturalized, decontextualized value.

https://theautarkist.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/rhm…tly-nihilistic/

Embodied cognition was a prominent theme in this essay @ Aeon, which was very enjoyable to read

https://aeon.co/essays/feminis…e-from-its-body

In it, Sally Davies is the first person that I'm aware of who attacks transhumanist ideology as an expression of an irrational Platonic anxiety about the body. She also challenges Descartes for a similar reason. Concerning Plato, she says:

Since Plato, generations of philosophers have been gripped by a fear of the body and the desire to transcend it – a wish that works hand-in-hand with a fear of women, and a desire to control them. In the dialogue Timaeus, Plato likens the force of his ideal, immaterial forms to a disciplinarian father, imposing order on all this unwieldy material stuff that was nonetheless ‘the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things’. Here Plato deploys a well-worn technique for suppressing corporeal angst: carving off the mind (rational, detached, inviolable, symbolically male) from the body (emotional, entangled, weak, symbolically female).
Plato’s legacy persisted into the Medieval world, as the split between form and matter assumed the moral complexion of Christianity. Humans were believed to be in possession of an immortal soul, which reason and restraint should shield from the corrupting influence of earthly pleasures. Women and the female body, the presumed targets of men’s sexual desire, therefore bore the semiotic burden of sin. The theologian St Augustine, for example, chastised himself for repeatedly succumbing to lustful urges in his youth, where women ‘found my soul beyond its portals, dwelling in the eye of my flesh’.

Christianity took the Platonic neurosis to new heights. We must not forget that Eve--like Pandora before her--was blamed for all the evils in the world, and that after the primal so-called "fall from grace" she and Adam are imagined as covering up their nakedness out of shame--shame of having a body, of being a natural being.

With the advent of modernity and the Enlightenment, this wish to detach from the material became a self-consciously scientific and rational enterprise. …
No wonder feminist thinkers have been so skeptical about attempts to raise ‘rationality’ above all else. The concept of reason itself is built on a profoundly gendered blueprint. But a surprising rapprochement might be in sight: between feminists who criticise the mind/matter split, and certain philosophers and scientists who are now trying to put them back together. Fresh theories and findings about human cognition suggest that those feminised zones of physicality, emotion and desire not only affect the way we think, but are the very constituents of thought itself.
… Within a broad church that can be called – not uncontentiously – embodied cognition, a growing number of psychologists, scientists and theorists are approaching mental life as something that is not just contingent on, but constituted by, the state of our bodies.

Quote from Cassius

VS 62. If the anger of parents against their children is justified, it is quite pointless for the children to resist it and to fail to ask forgiveness. If the anger is not justified but is unreasonable, it is folly for an irrational child to appeal to someone deaf to appeals and not to try to turn it aside in other directions by a display of good will.

Concerning anger, when arming a child with techniques to tackle it, I would advise you read Philodemus' scroll On Anger:

http://societyofepicurus.com/reasonings-on-philodemus-on-anger/

(you may request it from your public library)

Some additional resources re: moral development in children and adults:

… I hope you too are well and your mamma, and that you are always obedient to Papa and Matro, as you used to be. Let me tell you that the reason that I and all the rest of us love you is that you are always obedient to them. – Epicurus, in his Letter to a Boy or Girl

(from the Epicurean fragments at epicurus dot net, my link does not work but not sure if its because of the website or if it's because am at work computer)

Also, I drew a parallel between Epicurean and Confucian ideas regarding the importance of role models / mentors for character development. Confucius argued that when leaders are corrupt or evil, people may obey out of fear, but when they're virtuous they wish to avoid the shame of disappointing them. From the above statement by Epicurus to a child, it seems like Epicurus sought to be a virtuous presence that children are ashamed to disappoint, instead of a feared one.

http://societyofepicurus.com/reasonings-abo…ucius-analects/

Synopsis of Epicurus’ “On Nature”, Book 25: On Moral Development - which mentions neuroplasticity, or the physical changes to our brain through habituation and character development, which is true to a materialist interpretation of soul development.

http://societyofepicurus.com/synopsis-of-ep…al-development/

(at the bottom of the essay, this includes a link to

Moral Responsibility and Moral Development in Epicurus, by

Susanne Bobzien)