Consolation for Not Having

Enough Money
(Video summary and weekly 2% activity on last page)

Part 1/4: A Quick Introduction

Welcome to Unit 4 online! The core question for this Unit is “What Makes Us Happy?” Simple, right? Sure, it is! Just
about every student in our class can answer this core question without much thought at all. What makes YOU happy?
Family. Your boyfriend or girlfriend. Rewarding work. Weekends. Money. Food. Toilet paper. Your pet poodle Poppy.
This is going to be such an easy unit, right?

But another, bigger question lies just behind this deceptively simple Unit 4 concept:

If we are so certain that we can know and pursue what makes us happy in life,
then why are so many of us miserable?

Today’s lesson challenges you to really reflect on your own life. Your goals. Your desires. Your vision of your future.
There are a lot of clichés about these kinds of Big Life Questions floating around our cultural consciousness: Money can’t
buy happiness. All you need is love. Follow your bliss (Thanks, Oprah!). We can talk the talk for sure. But can we really,
truly walk the happiness walk?

***
Let’s get started! Take your time. Take breaks. Have a nice coffee or tea. You should be able to easily complete this
lesson in our usual class time, but go at your own pace, on your own schedule. Email with questions or concerns. At
the end of the lesson you’ll submit a short activity via Blackboard Assignments. It is due at the end of the week.

A Pre-Lesson Epicurean Survey*

 How many friends do you have?

How many are close friends?
 How much time do you normally spend
with your friends in a week? How about in a day?
 Do you need money to be truly free and happy?
 Do you like to read, write, discuss difficult
topics and generally reflect on your existence?
 Or would you rather be doing ANYTHING else right now?

*No need to submit this. Just make some notes on it and, later, compare your views to the views of our thinker this week:
Epicurus. The activity you will submit for your weekly marks is on the last page.
Part 2/4: Of Rolexes and Houses

Here is one modern thinker’s vision of a life of happiness. See if you agree.

“Everyone has a Rolex. If you don’t have a

Rolex by the time you reach 50, then you have
clearly failed in your life.” – Jacques Séguéla

Clearly???
Even if you don’t agree with Séguéla’s exact claim, it still raises a very important question we all should reflect on:

Why do we want things that we don’t really need?

Hint: Do some quick Google research on Jacques Séguéla to find out why he is a “legend.” He’s not a philosopher
or a psychologist. He doesn’t own the Rolex corporation. But he did cofound a company called Havas SA. That
might give you a clue as to how he came up with his idea of “success by age 50.”

One reason that we all have “false desires” is that advertising creates and perpetuates such desires, and convinces us
they are real. Advertising is the central institution of the modern world. Advertising is not a part of our culture;
advertising is our culture. We swim in it like a fish swims in water. This includes actual ads, but also all the subtle
marketing messages of our social media world.

Some call advertising The Happiness Industry. You may have heard this saying, “Money can’t buy happiness but it can
buy ------, and that’s pretty much the same thing.” Insert desire here: wine, shoes, a Harley Davidson. But again, if
happiness can be bought and sold so easily, why aren’t we all completely blissed out and wanting for nothing?

Next: Try your own Jacques Séguéla Thought Experiment.

Fill in the blank for yourself.
 “Everyone has a ________. If you don’t have a
________ by the time you reach 50, then you have
clearly failed in your life.” – Jacques Séguéla

For example, you might believe that by the time you are 50, you really should have a house of your own. The main
thinker for today’s talk, Epicurus, suggests that, instead of going out and blowing your savings on a down payment for
that dream McMansion in Barrie, you take a different approach.

Press the proverbial pause button. Take… your… time. Be methodical.

Be reasonable instead of emotional. Really take a slow and sober and
thoughtful approach as opposed to an impulsive one, and really think
through the desire as opposed to just acting on it. It might not feel like
your usual way of doing things. After all, our culture tells us all the time
to seize the day! Just do it! FOMO! Try this instead, says Epicurus. Start
by asking yourself two important questions:

1. Is it natural to want a house?

2. Is it necessary to have a house?
Q1. Is it natural? It depends on what we mean by natural. Keep in mind that Epicurus was an ancient critic of advertising
and its way of creating false desires that thwarted our path to true happiness. Perhaps desires that are NOT natural are
those that are artificial, those desires that have been created by social institutions and cultural messages, including those
that have been created by advertising. Is the need for shelter a social construct? Maybe not. How about the idea of home
ownership as a marker of adulthood, of success? Hmm… maybe so?

Q2. Is it necessary? Again, it depends on the definition of necessary. One way to look at this is by asking if we need a
house to survive. We do need shelter from the elements, that’s true. But a house? We could live in an apartment, or a
condo, or a motel, or a monastery. People do! And how about a single-family house? Is that necessary for survival?

Keep questioning. Keep questioning the questions. You might be surprised at what you really need to be happy….

Why not take a Happiness Break before you tackle Part 2 of the lesson! Press ctrl then click the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7dPqrmDWxs
Part 3/4: Friendship, Freedom and Thought

According to Epicurus, we believe buying things, acquiring stuff, will cure our troubles. He offers us an alternative to
retail therapy. He recommends philosophy: thinking and asking questions like you just did (Natural? Necessary?). Only
this can lead you to a life of happiness. Do this and you can achieve something called ataraxia. More on that in a bit.

Epicurus concluded that we only really need three things to be happy. Once we have taken care of the basics (simple
food, shelter, clothes) we should pursue a life of friendship, freedom and thought.

Think back to the Pre-Lesson Survey you did in Section 1.

Now Consider Epicurus’ specific and radical views:

1. Friendship

Are your friends key to your happiness? Of course! But how does your definition of friendship stack up to Epicurean
“extreme” friendship? At age 35, Epicurus moved into a house with a group of friends. He lived with them 24/7. Each
had their own room, but ate together in a common room. He said, “Feeding without a friend is the life of a lion or wolf!”

In other words, it is very important to surround yourself with friends. True friends know the real you. They affirm your
identity. They give you unconditional love and respect. Epicurus wanted them around not just occasionally, but
permanently, in the same house. And “only a handful” of good friends was needed, not the expanded social media
networks we have today.

Stop & Think: How has physical distancing from your friends during the COVID-19 crisis impacted your
happiness? Maybe Epicurus was on to something?

2. Freedom

What’s your current definition of freedom? How do you think you can achieve it? If the answer is money, maybe take a
second look at what Epicurus was saying. Epicurus wanted a life away from bosses, competition and acquisition, away
from the proverbial rat race. He said that “we must free ourselves from the prison of everyday affairs and politics.”

Epicurus advocated for a life of self-sufficiency and simplicity. He and his friends lived in “The Garden,” a rural,
communal, minimalist living arrangement. Members of the community did work. But they did meaningful work: crafts
and tasks that contributed directly to the existence of the community.

Stop & Think: Epicurus wanted us to be free of the city.

Why do you think that is? What might make you happier living in the country?

Does your job make you happy?

How much time (and overtime) do you normally have to put into your job?
How much time does your job take away from the things that might actually make you happy?
 3. Thought

This last aspect of Epicurean happiness might be the hardest one for us to embrace. Think about it this way: Is your
definition of happiness to escape from the anxiety and hardship of everyday life? Would you rather play on your phone
than read, write or think about things? A story:

Yesterday I was struggling to complete some research for a new course I’m designing for
the Fall. I have a 260-page book I need to read and make notes on. I have four academic
journal articles to get through, too. In the middle of this, I received an email from a
friend who is self-quarantine. It read, “Important coronavirus update: Candy Crush is
set up for infinite lives for the whole week! Ok, that is all.” Which activity did I
choose? Thinking deeply about my academic course… or playing infinite Candy Crush?

I’m not saying.:-) But for a lot of us, happiness is about the avoidance of thinking. We want to escape the hard stuff of
life. We certainly don’t want to spend a massive amount of time in deep and difficult existential contemplation.

Deep thought (reading, writing, meditation, philosophy) was very important to Epicurus and his friends. They created
time and space away from the noise and shiny distractions of city life to reflect deeply and analyze their existence. This
included thinking, talking and writing about money, illness, the supernatural and especially death – things that actually
made them quite confused and anxious.

Does that sound pleasurable to you? (How much of THIS lesson did you read and think deeply about?)

***
Part 4/4: May I have your attention please!

If you find yourself interested in what Epicurus is suggesting, you need to start here: make your own list of the things
you’d really like to have for a happy life. Which ones are:

▪ Natural and necessary?

▪ Natural but unnecessary?
▪ Neither natural nor necessary?

And if Epicurus doesn’t grab you on the first, or even second read, remember this: Our assigned reading on Epicurus
comes from a larger work by the contemporary writer Alain de Botton. The title of the reading is “Consolation for Not
Having Enough Money.” If you are familiar with the state of not having enough money, maybe Epicurus has some
consolation to offer you!

Now back to our Unit 4 core question and the other question that lurks just behind it: What makes us happy? And if
we are so certain we know the answer to this, why are most of us so miserable?

Remember: Epicurus is offering us a radical new therapy to soothe our troubled souls. We might want to achieve
ataraxia: tranquility of the soul. But something stands in our way. Perhaps it is the false needs created by advertising?
Interesting to consider here the Latin origin of the word “advertising.” Advertere means “to turns one’s attention
towards something.” Is our attention turned towards the wrong things? Would we be happier if we focused our
attention on something different?

***
Summary
▪ What is ataraxia and how can we achieve it?
▪ What is advertere and how does it make us unhappy?
▪ Two key questions about our desires: Is what we desire natural? Is it necessary?
▪ Three essentials for Epicurean happiness: Friendship, Freedom and Thought*

*Remember: These three points are the core of Epicurus’ theory of happiness. But a warning! Don’t assume you know
what he meant by these things. His meanings are very specific. And in some ways, quite radical. Be sure to review!

Activity (2%)
Press ctrl and click on the happy (?) head of Epicurus to watch a video summary of his ideas. For 2%,
answer the following reflection questions (min. 150 words total). Submit via the Assignments link on
Blackboard by Friday, April 3, 11:59 pm.

1. Why did Epicurus think friendship was better than romance? Do you agree?

2. What makes work satisfying, according to Epicurus? Will your future career do this? Explain.

*End*
Good job! “See” you next week!