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Starting this thread for textual excerpts that express upbeat, optimistic, and/or joyful feelings...

Diogenes Laertius, book 10, excerpt:

"Also that in his letters he wrote to Leontion, "O Lord Apollo, my dear little Leontion, with what tumultuous applause we were inspired as we read your letter." Then again to Themista, the wife of Leonteus : "I am quite ready, if you do not come to see me, to spin thrice on my own axis and be propelled to any place that you, including Themista, agree upon" ; and to the beautiful Pythocles he writes : "I will sit down and await thy divine advent, my heart's desire."....It is observed too that in his treatise On the Ethical End he writes in these terms : "I know not how to conceive the good, apart from the pleasures of taste, sexual pleasures, the pleasures of sound and the pleasures of beautiful form."

De Rerum Natura, book 2, excerpt:

Will add soon [sunshine, birds-song in forests]

...More to be added soon

Feel free to post any other upbeat, optimistic,

Hello everyone.

Recently, I've come across some terrible news from my region. I'll spare you all of the details, but it consisted of some truly vile crimes committed by a group of thugs. When I read this, my blood began to boil as never before. I started shaking with anger. Obviously, due to the naturally anxious nature of our species, I already started anticipating scenarios in which I or people close to me would be victims of similar crimes.

The thugs had already been arrested for similar crimes in the past, but got out early due to the failing criminal system in my country. As such, trust in the law for protection is not an effective option. I understand that building a strong community can be helpful(as I believe this is one of the many forms of security that can be increased with the help of friendship), but what else can I and other people do to deal with anger, resentment, and especially anxiety in scenarios like this? What would Epicurus and his followers advise?

We've just had this video submitted by a participant at the Facebook group. It was originally produced in French but there's been an English overlay added, and it's very understandable. I've prepared a very negative review of it which I will post next, but as I told the poster, this is something I definitely recommend watching. Any long and professional treatment of Epicurus is good for publicity, and as I wrote in my review even though I find lots to object to, the video is very thought-proving. To say the least, this is NOT the view of Epicurus I advocate, but it certainly does dramatize many of the issues in dispute!

(I should also warn you that the video is kind of weird in incorporating an actual commercial (for Infomaniak, apparently a cloud provider) into the flow of the discussion.

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Hi, friends! I just watched this funny yet very interesting and well-researched video about Epicurus and his philosophy on a really great philosophy channel called

I came across this observation from Numenius of Apamea who wrote the passage some 500 years after Epicurus and I thought it may be interesting topic for us to discuss. Epicurean school in antiquity was uniquely resistant to any change or innovation. When other schools went through distinct periods in their development - Middle Platonism, Neoplatonism, Early Stoa, Middle Stoa, 1st Academy, 2nd Academy, umpteen academy etc. - Epicureanism had never developed. No new ideas were introduced, nothing was really questioned or corrected, there were around 10 scholars in succession that we know of who run the school and yet no-one really deviated or influenced in any significant way the teachings of the school.

So what do you think? Why was Epicurean school like a tardigrade in a state of cryptobiosis? Was the school's stagnation a feature or a bug?

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On the contrary, there was no great necessity that the Epicureans should have preserved the teachings of their

Edward Abbey was an iconoclast, a contrarian, a gadfly, and a radical. He was a desert ranger, a poet, a novelist, a student of philosophy, and a keen observer of nature and human life. He was an aesthetic, a sensualist, an atheist, a materialist, and in general terms an antagonist. A provocateur.

In a list of his favorite poets, he names first Anacreon and then Lucretius . He is, after Thoreau, my second favorite essayist.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

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My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation's history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time. from his journal; (cf. Diogenes of Oenoanda)

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Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I

Over on Facebook someone posted this. There are certainly people here who are much more familiar with Hobbes than am I. Anyone want to propose some comments in answer:

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In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes seems to follow a materialistic philosophy that aligns with Epicurean thought. Since he was writing in a Christian context, he couldn’t be completely open about it, often couching his materialism in scriptural language. His reduction of spirit to matter and denial of incorporeal entities was viewed by his contemporaries as dangerously close to atheism. Would you say Hobbes’ philosophy is in harmony with Epicurean philosophy?”

Dictionaries of the Scots Language :: Grumphie

dsl.ac.uk

A wee grumphie in the heird o Epicurus!

Greetings, friends!

I'm just noting for my own, future reference locations at which I have uploaded a translation:

Academia
On EpicureanFriends
Society of Friends of Epicurus

I'll make primary updates on twentiers.com/biography, but I've uploaded static copies elsewhere.

Nothing new lately. I hope everyone is well.

Greetings, all!

I'm centralizing some of the Epicurean art, merchandise, and related paraphernalia I've created in the Epicurean Emporium. My wife was previously hosting some of the material – including her historical portraits and digital illustrations – on Etsy and RedBubble, but we've made some changes, so it is now available through https://twentiers-shop.fourthwall.com/.

I'm still uploading things and organizing the navigation. It's a big bucket of products right now, but I'm working it out.

I'm also hosting a digital copy of The Hedonicon through the site. As I posted elsewhere, I jumped off of Musk and Zuckerberg's platforms, and I'd like to move away from Bezos' as much as possible, too, so I've ported e-book to this site. It's better, anyway. Amazon only pays the author/editor pennies for a cheap e-book or kindle file, and this site isn't quite as hungry.

PhiloSophos: Philosophical Connections by Dr Anthony Harrison-Barbet

A great resource for anyone interested in Western Philosophy. It contains interlinked profiles of 126 philosophers with 'connections' at the end of each profile. And these connections are the real gems of this web site. They show philosophers' influences, which ideas they shared, which ideas they opposed and which ideas they modified. It's a very clear way to see the development and interconnectedness of Western philosophy.

Please read 'How to use the profiles' section first to understand the whole concept and its execution.