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What made him famous was that he spent all his life trying to work out the largest
puzzle there is:
Philosophers before him had discussed at length what could make people good
and when people heard that Epicurus had set up a school to study happiness
There were tales that the school hosted ten course feasts, and orgies every night
Epicurus was said, by one critic, to have orgasmed 18 times in a single evening in
a bed full of virgins
It wasn't true
Epicurus and his team were studying happiness, but they were doing it very soberly
The philosopher owned only two cloaks, and lived on bread, olives, and for a treat,
an occasional slice of cheese
As for the bedroom, he merely responded demurely that he'd married philosophy
The only problem Epicurus noted was that we don't see our friends enough
The next thing we ordinary think that we need to be happy is a lot of money
but we tend not properly to factually the unbelievable sacraficies we gotta have to
make to get this money:
The jealousy, the backbiting, the long hours
but it was able to work alone, or in small groups, like in a bakery, or boat repair
shop
and lastely
but beneath our love of luxury there is really something else we trying to get out
But the great question is: Does luxury actually make us calm?
Firstly
He bought a big house and start living with all his friends
Everyone had your own quarters and there was pleasant share areas too
There's always someone nice to talk to you in the kitchen
Secondly
Everyone downshifted
All the members of the comune stop working for other people
They took big pay cuts in return for doing their own stuff
And thirdly
Epicurus and his friends stop thinking you could be calm just by having a beautiful
view to look out to
To spending time on their own, reflecting, writing stuff down, reading things,
meditating
there was four hundred thousand people living in comunes from Spain to Palestine
It was only the christian church that ending things in the fifth century
failed system
it's really a grown up, corrupted, not very successful version of epicureanism
The real Legacy of Epicurus is that human beings aren't very good make themselves
happy
Have the courage to change your life, in accordance with the moments that actually
delivery satisfaction
Out in the country with just some cheese, a couple of clothes, a few philosophy
books and