In her guide “Epicurean Simplicity,” writer and activist Stephanie Mills analyses what’s mistaken with our trendy lifestyle – and she or he goes again to the philosophy of Epicurus to discover a treatment. Mills’ guide is as lovely and stress-free as it’s inspiring – a passionate plea for a life well-lived, a life that’s much less wasteful and extra significant.
This text is a part of The Ultimate Guide to Epicurus.
What’s the finest human life obtainable at present?
The central query in any critique of contemporary life is: how can we dwell a greater, less alienated, more satisfying, extra worthwhile life in at present’s world?
The philosophy of Karl Marx (1818-1883) has been massively influential all through the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Considered one of his finest recognized ideas is the thought of “alienation” that describes how, in capitalist societies, human beings get estranged from their work and from themselves due to the best way the manufacturing of products is organised.
Stephanie Mills, an environmental activist and author of books in regards to the surprise of small issues for 5 many years, begins her guide “Epicurean Simplicity” (2003) with an outline of her life within the US countryside.
She lives in a cottage within the Higher Midwest of the USA, a rural place surrounded by forests, rivers and lakes. A spot that’s peaceable and that permits her to dwell in touch with nature, however that can be demanding: its winters chilly and lengthy, and its summers sizzling and dry.
On this scenario, Mills lives alone, sharing her life with the land throughout her residence (she famously and publicly early in life decided to not have children , for ecological causes). Within the guide, she describes bicycle journeys for purchasing within the small city close by, swimming in a pond, snowboarding by a pine forest in deep snow and observing all kinds of wildlife round her home.
To start with of the guide, she asks how we will at present justify dwelling the best way we do:
Once I, S. Mills, freelance author dwelling within the higher Midwest at the start of the twenty-first century, pose the query “How are we to dwell?” it’s like standing beneath the enterprise finish of a coal chute and pulling the wire. … Underneath these circumstances, the basic query ramifies into “How am I to dwell, given ozone depletion, chemical contamination, human overpopulation, useful resource exhaustion, and imminent ecosystem collapse?” (Mills, Epicurean Simplicity, p.28)
And her reply to the query “How am I to dwell?…” is, merely: “extra regionally.” The long-distance provide strains we’ve arrange for our commonest on a regular basis wants and needs are an immense burden on the setting and threaten our very existence within the comparatively close to future: Strawberries from California, fish from Vietnam, milk from Indonesia, steaks from Argentina, fruit from New Zealand, butter and cheese from Denmark, eggs from Poland, pesto from Italy and pasta and juices from Greece. That is only a random assortment of issues I noticed at present in my native groceries store… in Hong Kong.
Out-of-season items like these strawberries require immense quantities of fossil fuels and different chemistry, not just for their transport, but in addition for his or her manufacturing: fertilisers, pesticides, vitality for heating and cooling of green- and warehouses, machines for harvesting, sorting, processing and packaging. To not converse of the perversity of wrapping a bunch of bananas right into a bag of clear plastic on the market.
Epicurean nation life
As I ruminated on the proposition of straightforward dwelling, it appeared to me that if in our time we might be taught to savor the goodness of little, on a regular basis issues, we might get extra out of much less and abandon our ruinous gluttony. (Mills)
That is the place Epicurus is available in:
Epicurus and his followers understood that decreasing one’s desires and must a minimal was the likeliest option to dwell the unpained life, in order that they lived fairly merely. Bread and water had been their each day fare. … By taking note of to the small issues — the wholesomeness of the each day bread, the supply and state of the water, the seemliness of 1’s shelter, and the well-being of all of the human and more-than-human lives round us — we could also be led to follow simplicity and harmlessness in tangible methods, to “be the change one needs on this planet,” as Gandhi taught. (p.29)
For Mills, one of many enticing options of Epicureanism is how this philosophy is rooted within the tangible and the sensual, fairly than in summary beliefs:
The identical thought may encourage us to take higher care of the setting surrounding us. So long as we consider that there’s one other existence awaiting us after this one, whether or not it is a reincarnation, or an eternity sitting along side God, we might be a lot much less inclined to do the work that’s obligatory to avoid wasting this world we dwell in now from a catastrophic finish. And our present illusions of relocating to Mars, to the Moon, to orbital stations, or spreading humanity throughout the Galaxy are simply one other aspect of the identical previous dream of an everlasting, blessed life “elsewhere.” Accepting that this world is all now we have, is, just like the acceptance of the addict that he’s, in actual fact, an addict, the primary, obligatory step for working in the direction of an answer for the ecological and different issues now we have created on Earth.
The issues of expertise
For Mills, rejecting some applied sciences is a part of that resolution. After all, she too makes use of “a small electrical heater,” a wooden range and an assortment of shoes, skis, studying glasses, and, I assume, pots, pans and electrical gentle. Today, her movies attain us by the Web and her books can be found on Kindle. There isn’t a option to be an activist, even one in opposition to expertise, with out truly utilizing that very expertise that one is criticising. Nonetheless,
The unavoidable reality is that to dwell merely, one should draw the road someplace in opposition to the patron items and devices being urged upon us at each flip. (Mills)
She factors out that “an extended and protracted custom argues in opposition to the applied sciences that supplant talent, neighborliness, good work, and, more and more, mere employment.”
We talked beforehand about Erich Fromm’s criticism of technology and the relationship between Epicureanism and Luddism. Mills has a considerably comparable strategy. The purpose of criticising expertise as an Epicurean is to not promote dwelling in caves, or to welcome hardship in on a regular basis life, however to really enhance one’s high quality of life. It will occur by,
first, escaping the crucial to chase after the latest applied sciences; and,
second, by stopping that loss of skills and meaning that comes with the adoption of applied sciences in our on a regular basis lives.
In instances not so gone, individuals had been capable of construct a home or a sturdy fence, to stitch and to fix their very own garments, to make and restore their furnishings, to plant and maintain a backyard, to take advantage of a cow or a goat, to make a fireplace and prepare dinner, and to maintain their very own leisure by taking part in music at residence.
Now undergo that record as soon as extra and see what number of of those abilities you continue to have. Or your partner. Or your kids. Or your folks. (No, I’m not higher myself, sadly).
Old Age and Death
The traditional Greek thinker Epicurus emphasises that, in a world that works in line with bodily legal guidelines, no person should be afraid of both the gods or one’s personal demise.
What we’re dropping once we let expertise handle our lives shouldn’t be solely the drudgery of the each day chores, but in addition a giant a part of what makes life significant and what offers us a sense of value and empowerment: the data that now we have the talents to guide a full life, that we’re human beings in charge of our future, fairly than powerless appendages of a society that can maintain the whole lot for us.
As a result of once we settle for society’s provide of a microwaved, packaged meal, an inexpensive piece of clothes or a brand new chair from IKEA, we aren’t essentially making nearly as good a deal as we predict. With each gadget that improves our lives, we lose one likelihood to be ourselves the brokers of our lives’ enhancements. With each low-cost factor that does a chore for us, we give ourselves over to a dependence on this military of issues, we give up a little bit little bit of our freedom and our autonomy and turn into slaves to a system that we’re unable to regulate, affect, and even depart if (or when) it turns dangerous.
Stephanie Mills:
Comfort is nowhere on the record of the cardinal virtues. Temperance, prudence, fortitude, charity, justice, religion, and hope had been what Socrates, Plato and Saint Ambrose thought advantage hinged upon, not ease of operation or disposability. Is it doable that the proposition of being human is so completely different in our time as to have rendered these previous virtues irrelevant?
In our personal lives…
In case you are focused on lovely prose, in richly evocative photos of a life lived merely and in concord with nature, then Stephanie Mills’ guide is a treasure that you simply shouldn’t miss. It has definitely modified the best way that I take into consideration the world in so many various little methods, and it’ll in all probability do the identical for you.
Right here is Stephanie Mills’ guide “Epicurean Simplicity.” It’s a tender meditation on what makes life value dwelling and a declaration of affection to nature and to life.
Amazon affiliate hyperlink. For those who purchase by this hyperlink, Every day Philosophy will get a small fee for gratis to you. Thanks!
For the approaching week, allow us to then attempt to think about a few of Mills’ solutions for enhancing our high quality of life, whereas, on the similar time, dwelling a little bit extra in concord with nature.
The best option to begin is by one’s fridge. Attempt to establish the place all of the stuff in there has come from. How a lot transport is hidden within the contents of that one fridgeload of meals? How a lot fossil gas? How a lot chemistry within the sweets, pesticides within the fruit, bovine development hormones within the milk, antibiotics within the hen meat and pointless packaging that’s stored chilly at your expense till it’s lastly thrown away? And do you actually need each single factor in there that has been flown in from Indonesia, Argentina or Belgium?
Small, on a regular basis modifications are sometimes much more significant than sweeping, conceptual commitments. Simply don’t purchase these California strawberries in December any extra. As a substitute of frozen, microwaved meals, attempt some recent substances and a Youtube video that teaches prepare dinner a dish you want.
Even higher: purchase the substances regionally as an alternative of driving to the tremendous market. Your close by farmers’ market won’t solely have more energizing and more healthy items on provide, however additionally, you will make new acquaintances speaking to the farmers and sellers, discussing their merchandise with them. For Epicurus, as for Stephanie Mills, friendship and group is among the fundamental pleasures of life. As a substitute of being caught in an extended queue of faceless individuals on the tremendous market checkout line, eyes hurting within the glare of the overhead neon lights, you’ll be able to stroll by quirky and delightful stalls of flowers, stacks of home-made cheese and lovingly organized shows of all kinds of recent, seasonal greens, whereas chatting with mates and having fun with the recent air and the sunshine.
And it’s even simpler than that to regain management of our lives by reclaiming among the historical abilities of mankind: all that’s wanted is the cellphone or pc you’re studying on proper now. Consider a talent that you simply’d at all times wished to have and seek for a Youtube video that teaches that talent. Stitching, cooking, making hearth, carving little figures of wooden, knitting, writing quick tales, cooking, taking part in the piano and a myriad different abilities are all obtainable without spending a dime on the press of a key.
We dwell in a world that gives us with infinite alternatives to enhance ourselves and to make our lives richer and extra significant — many extra alternatives than any technology of human beings ever had earlier than in historical past. However as an alternative of grabbing these alternatives and really making our lives higher and richer, we glance away and spend our free time bingeing on dangerous TV.
Epicurean happiness and fulfilment shouldn’t be a distant dream that’s solely obtainable to individuals dwelling in a charmed cottage within the nation, in the midst of acres of 1’s personal land. Everybody can reclaim a bit of 1’s unique human dignity in a couple of minutes a day, with nothing a couple of’s cellphone.
What are we ready for?
◊ ◊ ◊
Thanks for studying! For those who discover that this text impressed you to alter one thing in your life, why not inform us about it within the feedback?
By the best way, in case you are inquisitive about Stephanie Mills, here’s a video of her giving a brief discuss:
and you will discover her homepage right here:
(Notice that there’s one other Stephanie Mills, who seems to be some sort of singer; I think about that it will be complicated to finish up on the singer’s web page, looking for recommendation on Epicurean simplicity ;))
Return to The Ultimate Guide to Epicurus.
Cowl picture by L’odyssée Belle on Unsplash.
Share this:
