The traditional Greek thinker Epicurus as soon as wrote that “the misfortune of the clever is healthier than the prosperity of the idiot.” However why would that be so? It turns into clearer after we have a look at Epicurus’ idea of wishes.
This text is a part of The Ultimate Guide to Epicurus.
“The misfortune of the clever is healthier than the prosperity of the idiot,” Epicurus writes in his letter to Menoeceus.
On first sight, it is a unusual assertion. Why ought to misfortune ever be higher than prosperity? Is Epicurus dishonest himself right here, a thinker, unsuccessful in life, making an attempt to consolation himself for his failures? Or is there extra behind this assertion? And what precisely?
To know this puzzling assertion, it’s helpful to recollect what Epicurus thinks in regards to the good life. For him, happiness is an important factor in life. And happiness is nothing however the absence of ache within the physique and of hassle within the soul.
Now individuals have all kinds of wishes, however Epicurus groups them into three categories:
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The pure and mandatory wishes. These are wishes that can trigger ache if not fulfilled: the need for meals, water, and a protected place to sleep;
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The pure however pointless wishes. These are wishes that don’t trigger ache if not fulfilled, however they’re nonetheless pure within the sense that now we have them because of our nature, and that they are often fulfilled by what nature freely supplies: the need for friendship, for a companion maybe (Epicurus isn’t very clear about what precisely falls into this class); and
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Unnatural and useless wishes. These are wishes for cash, for jewels, for a sports activities automotive, for a excessive place in society. They don’t trigger any ache if not fulfilled – fairly the other. Fulfilling them causes ache and annoyances, like having to work greater than mandatory, not having time for family and friends, having to economize over lengthy durations of time and so forth.
So what would the “idiot” do? A idiot, within the sense by which Epicurus makes use of the phrase, would attempt to fulfill each want simply because it pops into his thoughts. Want an ice-cream? Go and purchase one. Want a much bigger home? Go and purchase one. Want a loving relationship? Nicely, … That’s a bit extra tough.
So the idiot will, on the one hand, should work for a very long time with a view to receive the cash that’s mandatory with a view to fulfil his silly wishes. He will even discover that a few of his most basic wishes (for instance, the need for love, for a peaceable life, for friendship or a loving household) can’t be fulfilled in any respect on this manner. Additionally, the idiot will finally discover that even that shiny sports activities automotive that he managed to purchase isn’t as shiny as another, even higher automotive that he has now seen at that he now desires. Even his huge home isn’t as huge because the villa on the finish of the street. So at any time when a idiot fulfils one want, the following one pops up — and it will by no means finish. There’s at all times one thing extra to chase after, at all times a brand new want to fulfil. And so, like we’re all alleged to do in a capitalist society, the idiot will likely be completely sad, at all times chasing after the top of the rainbow that eludes him.
The clever man, in distinction, may have realized to not fulfil his wishes but to reduce them. He’ll know that chasing after materials items is pointless, as a result of these sorts of wishes by no means finish, at all times resulting in an increasing number of wishes.
Historic Greek thinker Epicurus (341-270 BC) believes that the way in which to make sure happiness all through life is to scale back one’s wishes in order that they are often simply fulfilled.
So as a substitute, the clever man may have realized to be glad with little or no. To eat when hungry and to be proud of the only of meals: a crust of bread if obtainable, a little bit of fruit, cool water from a properly: the issues that nature supplies at little or no price. He’ll acquire happiness from wanting on the sundown, from singing songs and writing poems, from having fun with his personal ideas and his personal creativity, from respiration, from being alive, from speaking with associates. He’ll know that the perfect issues in life come freed from price: love, friendship, household, well being.
Due to this fact, for the clever man, misfortune isn’t one thing he would worry, for misfortune doesn’t have any manner of affecting him. If all somebody wants is friendship, love and a little bit of meals, then one will be blissful as a beggar simply in addition to one can be blissful as a king.
And so it seems to be true, in any case: The misfortune of the clever is certainly higher than the prosperity of the idiot.
Epicurus (341-270 BC)
Epicurus (341-270 BC) is commonly seen as an advocate of an expensive life, wealthy in good meals and different pleasures. That is incorrect. Epicurus was, if something, an ascetic: somebody who thought that pleasures and good meals have a detrimental impact on our happiness and that we must always prepare ourselves to benefit from the easier pleasures of life.
Return to The Ultimate Guide to Epicurus.
Thanks for studying! Cowl picture by Joao Tzanno on Unsplash.
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