Posts by Hiram

Society of Epicurus now has a sub-reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/SocietyofEpicurus/

I’m writing a blog on lila, a Hindu concept of (religion as) “play” which is used to explain religion and even to weave meaning into life without taking oneself too seriously. Hinduism says “life is a game: play it”, and this playfulness is central in many Hindu traditions like Bhakti, Krishna consciousness, etc. It also allows us permission to give up the need to rationalize everything always, opens up the possibility of innocence. If we approach religious practice as a Lila, we may get a bit closer to E’S ideal of religion as a source of pure, unalloyed pleasure.

Few thought experiments.

Was Epicurus not inciting a religious reform (of all faiths) by saying things like?:

“It’s not we but those who believe like the majority that are blasphemous”

“Believe about the gods WHATEVER you wish so long as it does not contradict their indestructibility or bliss”

I don’t see how this doctrine needs only apply to Olympians gods.

Isn’t it possible that even a monotheism can be reformed in this manner? Or a pantheism where Nature is deity, as ancient Epicureans seemed to imply in their gratitude prayer?

“We give thanks to divine Nature for she made the needful things easy to attain and the difficult things to attain, she made unnecessary“

Isn’t Thomas Jefferson a type of monotheistic, deist Epicurean of this kind? Why have we never taken seriously he possibility of a “god of nature” (meaning nature or reality itself as deity) as a healthy way to channel the religious instinct?

Just random thoughts.

Did you email the publisher?

Puede visitor la página de SAE en español, que tiene muchas otras traducciones de pergaminos de Filodemo y otras obras:

https://sociedadepicuro.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/raz…es-de-filodemo/

https://theautarkist.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/hap…-felt-so-alive/

... not that "being in the Bible" is a badge of credibility exactly

#Epicurus: Father of the #Enlightenment - by Sean Gabb

https://misesuk.org/2012/09/19/epi…-enlightenment/

#atheism #humanism #science #philosophy

Most of the commentaries on here focus on whether the Greeks had a "scientific method". Was the canon a scientific method, or merely a philosophical one?

I agree with most of what you say, but we can't rule out that Lucretius may have added for the sake of explanation, not to the basic theory, but even as a function of using a different language than Greek, and writing in poetry.

Also, when I studied Diogenes' wall in depth, it seemed obvious to me that he had benefited from centuries of Epicurean discourse (with the Epicureans frequently adding emphasis and new arguments to strengthen Epicurus' points, for instance, on the importance of mental pleasures), of discussing back-and-forth the doctrines among themselves and being challenged by other schools (which we also see in Philodemus). With Lucretius and Lucian, we even see that an Epicurean literary tradition of science fiction was beginning to emerge as a result of speculation about life in other planets. So we can't rule out that the discourse had evolved during the centuries between Epicurus and Lucretius.

weekday evenings (in chicago) and weekends work best for me

The first of five, very short, morning reflections on the philosophy of #Epicurus for BBC Radio #Cambridgeshire | Talk 1—Losing our fear of the gods

https://t.co/c4cQG65D3E

If he did serve in the military, he may have been a bureaucrat. Remember, he was not fit at all, he was always known to be fat.

More on Horace:

http://societyofepicurus.com/in-memory-of-horace-carpe-diem/

French hedonist philosopher Michel Onfray appears to think the work is complete.

In my reasonings on his counter-history, I cite a piece of trivia that he shares:

• While many have argued that De Rerum Natura is an incomplete work, acute observers will notice that Lucretius starts De Rerum Natura with the word “mother”, and ends it with the word “corpse”

I've written on this in my Diogenes' blogs, and I've gone back to it and cited it often. It relates to PD 20. Here's the relevant portion:

Quote

Consistent with what’s been said before, in Fragment 112 Diogenes states that the “sum of happiness is our disposition, of which we are masters”, by which he argues against choosing a career in military service–which produces dangers to our lives and health–or public speaking–which produces nervousness and insecurity. The idea is that we can more easily be self-sufficient in our pleasure if we retain our ability to control our mental disposition.

I studied very little Latin, and became curious to re-take the study of Latin after listening to "O Fortuna" recently. I WAS able to publish a piece for a classics publication on the history of comedy as a tool to promote secular values thanks to being referred to the editor by someone who wrote a review of my book for The Humanist. Here's my piece.

https://eidolon.pub/swinish-herds-…ns-efdc9ca6db2d

In my book Tending the Epicurean Garden I discuss many ideas on planning and developing your hedonic regimen. These include laughter therapy, exercise, love-making, cooking and eating. I also delve into research on contemplation and meditation. I may expand that if there's ever a new edition, adding elements of the Nordic hygge lifestyle.

The Cyrenaics had a practice known as "presentism" which was zen-like and involved being fully present for the pleasures made available by nature in the moment. But Epicurus expanded this. The sanctioned practices in our sources include reminiscing about past pleasures and anticipating future ones.

The Epicureans also engaged in memorization / repetition of key teachings so that they would "become strong" in the psyche, and had other therapeutic practices (in the scroll on anger, Philodemus discusses "seeing before your eyes", for instance).

Also, hanging out with friends and enjoying friendship and familiarity with others is one of the most important and easiest sources of pleasure.

These discussions invariably remind me of Krishna Consciousness and the way the Vaishnava Hindus cultivate pleasure (ananda) through chanting.

It helps to write essays or 20th messages revolving around a short, concise quote or powerful saying carefully identified from each of the chapters like the ancients did. We should do this with Dewitt. So that these sayings gain power of their own via repetition and frequent reference and discussion. So maybe a good strategy is to identify and then comment on these quotes.

One way around DeWitt is to write tracts or commentaries making his exact same points, or paraphrasing them, and making them widely available / maybe even share them on youtube vids and other media. Sort of like I did with my reasonings on the Philodeman scrolls when I was unsure that they were in the public domain.