The key to a good life is avoiding pain

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Could it be that in arming themselves so well against life’s anxieties, Epicureans overlook its riches?

Basic Books; 304 pages; $17.99. Published in Britain as “The Pleasure Principle”; HarperCollins; £14.99manual on “the ancient art of living well”, her guide is the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who advocated a calm life of modest pleasure. By explaining how the world was, he thought philosophy could show people how to live. Ms Wilson, an Epicurus specialist, agrees. Her intelligent and readable book lies, she says, somewhere between technical philosophy and “advice columns”.

The life-advice, by contrast, sounds like common sense for people thrown onto their own ethical resources without traditional guidance, as is widespread now. Epicureanism spread as the Greek city-state fell into decline, empires emerged and social authority grew distant and impersonal. Although Ms Wilson does not stress it, the parallel with the current disoriented mood is striking.

“Living well and living justly”, part two, builds on the Epicurean picture of morality as useful rules for reducing harm. Be canny about your pleasures. Don’t stress over worldly success. Be good to friends. Enjoy sex but beware its risks. Don’t expect too much of parenthood. Above all, stop worrying about death. As Dryden put it, when translating Lucretius:From sense of grief and pain we shall be freeIn her last two parts, Ms Wilson probes the philosophical underpinnings.

 

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alllibertynews But he's dead now, right?

I think better advice comes from the mouth of Socrates uttering Plato's theory of the 'study of death' (Μελέτη Θανάτου) in his Phaedo. Philosophy Plato Death

Yes, death is real!

Party hardy......

Rehearse death every day. - Epicurus

So true

“Men inflict injuries from hatred, jealousy or contempt, but the wise man masters all these passions by means of reason.” ― Epicurus, The Art of Happiness

Jordan Peterson: 12 Rules for Life...

Eat,drink, and be merry..cause tommorow we die.

Nouriel True, but not easy

No the key to a happy life is lowering your expectations

Nope.

Glowing stratus rolled out like a luxurious soft down quilt saturated by the radiance of the heaven. The vivid shades of orange, pink and lilac bled into each other, performing a graceful ballet routine to the cosmic symphony, stretching endlessly beyond the vision of mortal man

Godliness with content is great gain

He was a man who thoughts are deep and very sound ?

No shit Sherlock

Be good to friends! Yes, positive relationship plays utmost important role in positive mental health and happiness,

Easy for you to say

Grateful MartinSpagat was able to use my body before it aged. All heil AimHigh!!!

CameronVaske One of the best lessons in life!

AlexiaMavro Memento Mori

But life is pain....

Our mission at is to build the social news network that ends fake news. Check out our video on our profile it’s over 700k views!

YOLO

Getta fuck. I wanna rock.

Old nice formula.

Epicurus’s proto-democratic world-view: the senses, which are the source of knowledge, are common to all & reliable. Each knows what pleases or pains them. As people know their own minds, they cannot easily be bossed about by presumed betters. He obviously hadn't met Islamists.

The key to happiness is behind a paywall. Open source Epicurians are not welcome.

Rothchilds own this..You should worry..

Buddha might argue that one cannot avoid pain - and that *nobody* escapes encountering it. It’s what you do about pain that matters.

Chance would be a fine thing!

Are you guys seeking enlightenment after writing so many pieces on conflict -:).

With disastrous consequences!

What an stupid idea... to love is to suffer and there’s no other way to be happy!

Actually pain bring consciusness into the EGO mind.. So its better to suffer early and then rejoice on enlightenment. :)

definitely, completely true

agaviriau

GigiV46 Μωρ΄ GigiV46 αυτά τώρα τα λέει κι ο Εκόνομιστ; Μας τρολάρει δεν εξηγείται αλλιώς. Ο Εκόνομιστ μας λεει να μην αγχωνόμαστε για την επιτυχία. Ο ΕΚΟΝΟΜΙΣΤ! θα σαλτάρω.

What if the pain and fear of mania, psychosis and depression doesn't stop until I die

Buddha was right with his exalted tenets 👌

Great

Looked good until denial of pain. That is now generally accepted as the pathway to evil. 🤨 Happiness comes from our attitude to pain as something to learn from. Not to be denied.

Our mission at is to build the social media platform that ends fake news

No pain no gain...

The key to a good life is avoiding the so called “democracy “ or “freedom” from western countries

Even if we want to, we can’t avoid it.

that’s why most married folks are zombies, just gliding through life

All the pain in the world, even with a great desire to avoid, will not work, because there is a physical moral

So that would include listening to most national news outlets.

yes pleb keep indulging in empty pleasures

Death comes to those who weight.

Agree

ToXdxxs

Excellent and completely agree! The challenge is to be in the minuscule minority who are likely to he in this category...😊

True

CamachoRueda El tetrafármaco

this one seem more fundamental (but more esoteric too): 'Have you found Joy in your life? Have your life brought joy to others?' it talks about a fine micro-balance of abilities in the social fabric;without it we can't have a real future together

Pain is unavoidable

But Epicurus had no notion of climate change. Otherwise, his formula works.

Twitter's for keeping up with the Joneses & empty philosophizing: spectators who envy the doers; the needy who envy the rich; the ugly who envy the handsome; the modest who envy the gifted, the old who envy the young. He who's content with his lot is happy & can still strive..

Epicuru's was wrong. Life success is to become pain friendly. Exactly the opposite.

Your picture represents our latter-day distortion of Epicureanism, not the plain and simple philosophy of the man himself. I keep his Letter to Menoeceus on my PC desktop, and it says this: Epicurus Epicureanism pleasure ease MedDiet philosophy

Don't worry, be happy!

I ignore the pain because the pain will never stop

Epicurus, the original millennial.

Enjoy the 'little thing' !!!

Contrarily, the key to a good life is not avoiding pain, but 'accepting' it. Pain is unavoidable.

Can we tell that to those in real pain, and will it suffice? Food for thought. FFT.

Reading such articles from is a pain. There was another one published on the first page of marcotravaglio journal in Italy, as first article of a collaboration, and reading that was a huge pain also. Seems like anesthetic pills sent by words! indiferent

The key is not in avoiding pain. Rather, it is striking a healthy balance between pain and pleasure.

So exited to read this.

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