 Our society is one that believes in living life to its fullest You try to do as much and make as much of your life as you can You see this in a variety of attitudes You know, this is expressed in a variety of ways ranging from probably the most juvenile with YOLO, right? You only live once so do everything you can you only live once to You know being a master of industry, right? to Producing the most making the most money you can being able to have those possessions or You know being able to make the greatest discoveries, you know things like this We believe in individual liberty and freedom in order to achieve such things. We believe that You know the purpose of your life is to do as much as you can Now, this is kind of a stark contrast to Epicurus Epicurus Would say you if you try to do as much as you possibly can if you try to take everything Have everything You're gonna lead a life of misery in these two excerpts that we have these two pieces of Epicurus So we have the letter to Manisius and the principal doctrines Epicurus is asking the question of what it means to lead a good life. What's a life that's worth living? now his answer is Perhaps yeah, again, maybe a little bit surprising but in contrast to What we what I said earlier A life that's worth living the good life is a life of pleasure now you You might have immediate images You know partying all night and the best foods and you know, you even have this term Epicurean to you know kind of mean that you know the most sensually tasteful foods or something like that But you know, that's not what Epicurus had in mind when he was talking about pleasure He was talking about the tranquility of the mind and the tranquility of the mind Doesn't deal very much with you know all of this It doesn't deal with sensuality It deals Primarily with contemplation at the beginning of this letter to Manisius Epicurus says a couple things that you might think You know, maybe they go a little strange and that's actually kind of the point You know, the first thing he tells Manisius is not to fear death. I'll get to that in just a second The second thing is he tells Manisius to believe and a particular particular God now You know Epicurus is not a Christian. He's not a Hebrew. He's a Greek now the point of what he's saying Is he telling Manisius to believe in a God that's alive and living a life of blessedness that sort of thing now You might have some preconceptions of what Epicurus means by blessedness. I they're probably mistaken I mean given a lot of what he describes as a life of happiness Blessedness is probably not something that you have a whole lot of experience with so but again, we'll get to what Epicurus means by you know this happy life later on in the video and In the meantime really, you know the whole point that Manisius has excuse me Epicurus has here and telling Manisius to believe in This particular kind of God is to contrast what Epicurus thinks is this good life to what you know the culture of the time thought was a good life, so You know who might think that Epicurus has you know Dionysus in particular That's his real intended target as you know He's telling Manisius not to believe what the Dionysians had to say about a blessed life But it's not just Dionysus. You know Dionysus was this Greek God of you know Frivolity and fun and you know kind of madness and sensuality basically, you know, we Sex drugs and rock and roll right that's Dionysus But Epicurus doesn't have just Dionysus in mind. I he would tell the worshipers of Hephaestus right the God of you know metalworking blacksmith You know, we might today think of like industry or craftsmanship You might tell those worshipers, you know, let go of this need to perfect being a you know the best blacksmith or perfecting trade He might tell what the worshipers of Aries right who you know, basically soldiers You might tell his worshipers of Aries stop thinking that strife and competition is going to perfect you That's not the blessed life. That's not the happy life So the point that Epicurus has here and telling Dionysus not Yeah, I'm telling Minisius to worship this this immortal blessed God is not because he's necessarily trying to convert Minisius to any particular religious belief. He's not in fact. He says that everybody's got it wrong They don't know what a blessed life is. They don't know what this this God is like And he's not trying to get Minisius to subscribe to any particular religious belief You know the rest of the letter and you got the principal doctrines. They don't look towards what they don't look towards any kind of purported reveal text. They don't look towards any particular religious belief rather the point that Epicurus has here and in the begin this letter to Minisius is to say everything you've been taught About what is good or and then what is bad is wrong death is not bad and What these different Religious cults have had to said about what is good is not good So the beginning of letters really just to say clear your mind of all these beliefs so for Epicurus desires come in a variety of kinds But starting with natural desires versus groundless desires now right natural desires are ones that would actually produce at least some Kind of pleasure some kind of happiness Unless desires are ones that are you know, he says are based on just useless opinion When these are you know desires where you fulfill them. They don't really produce happiness. They don't really do anything Yeah, they'll be You know, maybe they produce more misery or maybe maybe it's just not relevant to decisions about Pleasure of happiness because it doesn't really do much not to to illustrate the groundless desire He talks about death and he was starts this starts off talking about death with the letter to Minisius And you know, he says you know death is nothing to us What's that supposed to mean? Well, I think what he's getting at is something like this, you know, this desire to avoid death The desire to live forever, right? Maybe that's another way say but you know Well, but you're actually just primarily this desire to avoid death. That's a groundless desire it won't have an impact on Pleasure or pain It is is what he's saying Now, you know to understand what he means is the way you have to understand what Epicurus has about death. He says you know death is you know for Epicurus is ceasing to exist It's nothingness It's an absence of any kind of awareness or sentience life Absence of sensation You can't experience anything with death and the reason why I can't experience anything with death is because you cease to be All right Yeah, you know might be surprised about this given what he has to say about Believing in this immortal and blessed God, but again, he's not a Hebrew. He's not a Christian. He's you know, it's something else He doesn't think that there is an afterlife. He thinks this at least you know from this reading. He thinks that this is it Well Yeah, so he starts off with this Claim that death is nothingness. Well, if if death isn't so we have that well, let's suppose Let's say well if death is an evil, right? Well, if Epicurus death is an evil then death Is a pain and has some kind of pain involved and if death is a pain Then you have sensation or experiences with death But you don't right? This is false. We just got finished saying that death is this is ceasing a cessation of any kind of Experience so it's false that death is an evil Well, you know, we might think well then gosh, you know, everybody just rushed to death, right? Oh, that's scary. You know, I mean Epicurus is quick to to stop any kind of Notion that way. He's gonna say look, you know, this doesn't mean that the foolish man thinks you should just you know Go after death. No, that's that's stupid, too. He says that's groundless Now Because you know take it the other way, you know, suppose death is a good Well, if death is a good then death is pleasurable for Epicurus if death is pleasurable Then death has some kind of sensation some kind of experience or awareness, but How he started out there is no There is no experience with death You cease to exist So it's false that death is is a good too So, you know, it's false that death is a good and it's false that death is an evil if it's false said it You know either one of these Well, then death is nothing it makes no impact on How you should live your life You can try you know, so this desire to avoid death doesn't do any good because well, you know first of all, you can't You're going to die but secondly Even if you die right, there's no happiness or pleasure to be fulfilled in That desire not being fulfilled. There's there's just no Nothing to it. So this desire to avoid death is groundless for Epicurus, I mean for starters, you can't and secondly It's you know death Isn't bad and death isn't good death For Epicurus is nothing all right, so we talked about natural desires versus groundless desires are these You know kind of useless desires Now natural desires are ones that if they're fulfilled Then they'll produce happiness right they'll produce You know pleasures Now, you know, you might think well that that's all there is to it You know Epicurus is done, but you know he has a further point to be made Natural desires come in two kinds. All right, so So what makes a natural desire is if it's fulfilled then it produces happiness but what if it's not fulfilled and There are two kinds if there's not fulfilled and it does not produce unhappiness Then it's just a natural desire. It's merely a natural desire But if a desire is unfulfilled and it produces unhappiness then that's a necessary natural desire So what does this mean well, okay if you don't have water If you don't have water That produces a lot of unhappiness. It really does You suffer and you die within two. I think it's two or three days, right? If you don't have water you die in two or three days All right, so that well, that's that definitely Produces unhappiness that's suffering of thirst that that that produces unhappiness But what about caviar? If you don't have caviar Then you know you're fine basically I mean most everybody watching the videos never had caviar and never will and you lead otherwise happy lives I say you don't need caviar now now eating caviar my produce happiness, you know, it's supposed to be tasty You might enjoy it. It's food is sustenance. So you so you eat it But if you don't have caviar, well, you're gonna be fine. I mean you should still eat something You know you should have At least some kind of food, you know vegetables Grains this sort of thing. You need those sorts of things But if you don't have caviar, well, that's okay. So caviar is a natural desire, but it's not necessary Water is a natural desire and it's necessary now this distinction between the merely natural and the necessary natural desires is what's going to lead Epicureus to make claims about You know having kind of a simple life, you know, we can trust this what we'll be doing in our culture We think that our culture, you know, we try to have as much as you as we can You know our culture you say, yeah, you ought to go up to the caviar But Epicureus because they well, it's probably not such a good idea You ought to try to lead a simple life and the reason is is because You know, you need the necessary desires to be fulfilled, but that's it and that doesn't require a whole lot of effort So yeah, it has a whole argument for that Let's take a look at that next Well Epicureus has given us an argument in this letter to Manasseh's Manasseh's to basically I mean the conclusion is is To live as with as little as you can With as little as you can Now this this might seem kind of strange to us, but you know, he has his reasons for it Now remember that you're from the beginning of this letter Hey said that you know this the purpose of life is This pursuit and of pleasure is achieving as much of this pleasure And again how he defines pleasure. I mean the main kind of pleasure is this absence of pain And you also notice that some pleasures are followed by pain and some pains are followed by pleasure. So You know Eating a whole bunch of fried food Well, that it's really pleasurable. It tastes great, but followed by pains, right? You Overweight your blood pressure rises You know, you aren't as active. You don't have as much energy. It's not nutritious for you things like that So if it's something like that you probably shouldn't do it because you know in the end it's not good for you The same way, you know kind of kind of a on the other hand, you know We have that some pains are followed by pleasure. So exercise exercise is an exertion, right? It's hard You know, I'm walking around here all day and you know, it's it hard on my legs and I'm out in the sun the sun hurts my eyes things like that's why I wear sunglasses because it hurts my eyes I'm in the shade right now. So it's not so bad. But You know, there is a pleasure that's that follows from and namely some good health So I have increased energy and you know, I'm also enjoying my time out here. You know, this park is really really lovely so you know with you with this With these two things together that you know our purpose in life is to pursue pleasure and You know, some pleasures are followed by pain and some pains are followed by pleasure Well, then you know, we have to do this calculus to sit here and figure out Well, what course of action is going to result in the most pleasure? So we got to sit sit down and figure that out. Okay Well So we have to pursue that course of action that results in the great in the most pleasure in our lives All right. Well some pleasures Epic year's notes Excuse me some pains epic year's notes some pains are Caused by an absence of pleasure So if you've ever smoked If you ever smoke cigarettes all I feel is really good But then you stop and it's followed followed by withdrawal and that kind of stings Well, yeah, there's examples like that with you know addiction, right? But not just that you know think about Now the best dessert I ever had Was in a four-star restaurant in New Orleans Fantastic dessert. It was it was this dark chocolate cake And you know wasn't big but man was it ever good But I'm never gonna have that again unless maybe I go to New Orleans, but you know, I don't often go to four-star Restaurants five-star restaurants or hotels. I mean, it's really expensive But you know, I've had that fantastic dessert and you know, it's not that other desserts aren't good They are good, but that was the best one I've ever had and You know, I haven't had that again So that's Actually, it's not true Stakehouse here in San Antonio Four or five-star steakhouse here in San Antonio. I was with my now wife and and her son and we were celebrating Had this chocolate lava cake. That was the best dessert I ever had It's fantastic. It was amazing But you know point being You know, I haven't had that again and you know other desserts are good But they're just not as good as that one. Well that that's an absence of pleasure and yeah You know, I really kind of would like to have that dessert every night You know supposing I didn't gain weight or whatever, right? I really like to have that kind of dessert Well, you know on top of this right that pleasure some of these absences of pleasures are Absences of unnecessary pleasures I Didn't need that chocolate cake. I didn't I liked it, but I didn't need it You know contrast this to to water if I don't have water get really thirsty That's a pain caused by an absence of a pleasure But you know, I needed that water, right? I still need that water. So I'm gonna get it again That's this is a necessary pleasure Well, some of these pleasure some of these pains caused by an absence is a pleasure or also Pleasures the absence is a pleasure from unnecessary Desires I don't need that chocolate cake Well, if the point is to you know, you know follow that course of action that Has the greatest amount of pleasure and Some of these some of these pains are caused by assences of pleasure and some of these pleasures are unnecessary Then I ought to choose that course of action That result that that involves only necessary desires Because all these other ones all these other unnecessary desires I won't necessarily be able to fulfill them again and you know, then I'll be gone, right? I won't have them any so then those things would be gone and we'd be able to have them anymore and that's going to cause pain So instead epic here's it's gonna say instead of subjecting yourself to that pursue only the necessary desires You don't need those other ones, you know Especially if you've never experienced in a fight never had that chocolate cake. I would never miss it. I would never miss it If I've never had You know a hundred-year-old wine I'll never miss it. Well if I never miss it, then I want to experience that pain that pain of missing it So I'd be cares things the decision is pretty simple here Pursue only those desires that are necessary the natural necessary desires Don't pursue the ones that are just merely natural the unnecessary natural desires and you'll have a happy life and you'll use as Little as possible And you know on top of that maybe like do as little as possible happy Kira's tells us We ought to lead a life Free from these unnecessary desires. You know, they can result in happiness, but You know, if you don't have them You're gonna be miserable What's left? Well, they're the necessary desires The necessary needs What do you need for him? you need well the these desires that Allow you to live food water exercise medicine These shelter clothing These are necessary to live Now you don't have to have a Big house for Epicureus You know, you have enough of a place to live in to be comfortable And you shouldn't try to ever live in a big house because well, you'll miss it in case it's ever gone You need clothes, but you don't need the high-end fashion clothes. You don't need to look all that wonderful. You know Maybe, you know, if you're worried about the appearance at all, right? If it covers your body protects you, okay, but if you're worried about the appearance at all go for something simple Don't go for high fashion So that's the first kind of desire and the desires the needs that you need to live Second, you know Those things that avoid what he calls bodily unpleasantness Kind of wrapped up in the first one, you know in order to live but You know these sunglasses, right? The sunlight at least the direct sunlight really hurts my eyes. That's a bodily unpleasant saw You know wear sunglasses Now the hat I had on earlier the hat avoids, you know sunburn and skin cancer other things like that Those sorts of things avoid bodily unpleasantness The last one are those desires for happiness Well At this point where our interest is really people like well, what do we need for happiness? That seems to be the most important thing. Surely we need a lot. Epicureus says no, you don't need a lot You need friends You need to be able to talk with people. He even has in the You know foundational principles He has more than a few of them devoted to the idea of justice and justices is mutually beneficial relationship So that's going to be that's going to be a need to you need friends besides friends You need to have at least some belief in the existence of this Immortal God this blessed God Now if you don't like that, right if you're you know Not comfortable with the idea of a God, I don't think he's gonna mind too much Other than you know, he thinks that one is necessary for the existence of everything, but you know, maybe you don't okay Just don't subscribe to what everybody else thinks Now what he's talking about there again, you know, pretty much all he knew were the Greek gods He doesn't think you know, he thinks he shouldn't believe in these capricious very human like gods ones that are concerned with position power All these other unnecessary Desires that that he's just got finished talking about all those are unnecessary this you know divinity for Epicureus this one that's blessed is One that doesn't need anything else for its existence one that Is not dependent on anything one that probably just Contemplates existence that that's what this God does and he thinks you should do that too. He thinks you for happiness He need friends and you need to contemplate The world around you need to understand his patterns its movements the reality of it all And the reason you're not only so you better understand how to fulfill your needs to live and to avoid bodily unpleasantness but You know, this is really neat, right all this reality around you. You don't have to make it It's not like the movies right the movies. We have to make that reality. We have to devote lots of resources to Creating the movies Epicureus is why? Come out and just enjoy it You don't need all that so for happiness For the good life for the pleasurable life according to Epicureus You need clothing food shelter medicine, maybe friends and to contemplate contemplate This wondrous reality all around you