I once heard an actor I admired reveal in an interview how he thought happiness was overrated. I remember the journalist sitting across from him nearly collapse, as he sat awestruck by the proclamation.
But in some perverse way I actually understood where the guy was coming from.
From Socrates to Freud, the remarkably elusive emotional state of well-being has been poked, prodded, and dissected for literally thousands of years. What is happiness and how do we all get more of it?
The most poignant observation of happiness I've heard in recent memory came from author and TV host, Rabbi Shmuley who said, "Happiness is a byproduct of living a life of meaning."
In other words, happiness is not something you can actively pursue but rather the result of doing work YOU believe to be worthwhile.
Whatever your theory on attaining more mental contentment can we call agree there are a few vital ingredients to happiness?
Lucky for us, the ancient Greek Philosopher Epicurus thought so.
Epicurus was born on the Greek island of Samos, roughly 270 miles from Athens. Perhaps best known for giving us words like, wait for it, "Epicurean," which refers to a person devoted exclusively to pleasure, the philosopher was also known for establishing schools and contributing his prolific doctrines on hedonism, pleasure, and materialism.
But what did his philosophy entail exactly and is it accurate, or even fair to link Epicurus with only sensuality and self-indulgence?
Or was there more to it?
Unlike Socrates, whose main pursuits lied in uncovering the sturdy tenets of logic and sound argument, Epicurus's feelings on happiness evolved into appreciating something many of us already have but tend to overlook.
As Alain de Botton points out in, Consolations of Philosophy Epicurus valued the following above all else:
1. Friendship
2. Freedom
3. Thought
"Wealth is of course unlikely to ever make anyone miserable. But the crux of Epicurus's argument is that if we have money without friends, freedom and an analyzed life, we will never be truly happy. And if we have them, but are missing the fortune, we will never be unhappy."
Unfortunately, marketing, television, and even the circles we choose to surround ourselves with don't help a great deal in promoting those simple treasures.
Instead, we believe material possessions to be valid solutions to wants we don't fully comprehend.
In other words, we fail to understand our complexity, our delicate subtleties and as result look outside rather than in.
Start 2018 by looking closer to the friends, freedom, and capacity for resourceful thought already at your fingertips.
Showing posts with label Socrates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socrates. Show all posts
Monday, January 1, 2018
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Do Not Be Intimidated by Bad Thinking
There's a wonderful book by Alain de Botton called, The Consolations of Philosophy. One of Botton's distinct gifts as a writer and thinker is his ability to take complicated and often daunting subject matters and make them lucid, and dare I say fun.
In the beginning of his book he talks about the importance of thinking for one self and how doing so is often not popular.
He tells the story of Socrates, the classical Greek philosopher sentenced to death for corrupting the youth and failing to worship the city's gods.
Not surprisingly, the image that probably popped into your head was the painting done by Jacques-Louis David in Paris in 1786. The image shows Socrates surrounded by distraught friends as he defiantly prepares for his death.
"I am not going to alter my conduct, not even if I have to die a hundred deaths," Socrates supposedly told a jury.
To many the boldness of Socrates may be viewed as recklessness. He did after all have several opportunities to avoid death, namely by repudiating his beliefs and refraining from public discourse.
He refused.
To point he was trying to make is what's popular is not always right.
His jury of "peers" consisted of 500 men. 220 decided Socrates was not guilty, while the other 280 felt differently.
But what was their reasoning based on?
By the way,the qualifications to serve on the jury in Athens around the year 399 BC were the following:
-- being male
-- having citizenship
Talk about a low bar.
In other words, having the capacity to at least try and interpret why something was true by considering why it's alternatives were false was not a pre-requisite.
Which makes me wonder if it is for many of us today.
Most people give greater thought to how to make their favorite dish for a dinner party than whether the beliefs they've adopted are actually their own.
The truth is, the act of pursuing mental and moral well-being hinges on our ability to discount the unfounded link between approval of others and the TRUTH.
The two are NOT binary.
Botton says, "The validity of an idea or action is determined not by whether it is widely believed or widely reviled but by whether it obeys the rules of logic."
Courage, as he puts it, is intelligent endurance. It is the capacity to understand that truth is not about the number of people who may oppose it but rather their reasoning for doing so.
Do we have the courage to look BEHIND the critique of others? Ourselves?
The ability to not buckle under times of unpopularity takes courage, which is cultivated with practice. It's not about blindly clinging to our beliefs for the sake of defiance, but challenging others, however many, to prove its premise through logic, not emotion.
In the end, it seems Socrates was vindicated. Shortly after his death the mood around Athens changed like a season.
The three men who brought the charges against Socrates were supposedly banished, one was even condemned to death. Meanwhile, a bronze statue of Socrates was crafted by the sculpture Lysippos.
Athens, as Socrates predicted, came around and saw things the way he did.
The lesson is to not be intimidated by bad thinking NO MATTER who, or from how many it comes from.
In the beginning of his book he talks about the importance of thinking for one self and how doing so is often not popular.
He tells the story of Socrates, the classical Greek philosopher sentenced to death for corrupting the youth and failing to worship the city's gods.
Not surprisingly, the image that probably popped into your head was the painting done by Jacques-Louis David in Paris in 1786. The image shows Socrates surrounded by distraught friends as he defiantly prepares for his death.
"I am not going to alter my conduct, not even if I have to die a hundred deaths," Socrates supposedly told a jury.
To many the boldness of Socrates may be viewed as recklessness. He did after all have several opportunities to avoid death, namely by repudiating his beliefs and refraining from public discourse.
He refused.
To point he was trying to make is what's popular is not always right.
His jury of "peers" consisted of 500 men. 220 decided Socrates was not guilty, while the other 280 felt differently.
But what was their reasoning based on?
By the way,the qualifications to serve on the jury in Athens around the year 399 BC were the following:
-- being male
-- having citizenship
Talk about a low bar.
In other words, having the capacity to at least try and interpret why something was true by considering why it's alternatives were false was not a pre-requisite.
Which makes me wonder if it is for many of us today.
Most people give greater thought to how to make their favorite dish for a dinner party than whether the beliefs they've adopted are actually their own.
The truth is, the act of pursuing mental and moral well-being hinges on our ability to discount the unfounded link between approval of others and the TRUTH.
The two are NOT binary.
Botton says, "The validity of an idea or action is determined not by whether it is widely believed or widely reviled but by whether it obeys the rules of logic."
Courage, as he puts it, is intelligent endurance. It is the capacity to understand that truth is not about the number of people who may oppose it but rather their reasoning for doing so.
Do we have the courage to look BEHIND the critique of others? Ourselves?
The ability to not buckle under times of unpopularity takes courage, which is cultivated with practice. It's not about blindly clinging to our beliefs for the sake of defiance, but challenging others, however many, to prove its premise through logic, not emotion.
In the end, it seems Socrates was vindicated. Shortly after his death the mood around Athens changed like a season.
The three men who brought the charges against Socrates were supposedly banished, one was even condemned to death. Meanwhile, a bronze statue of Socrates was crafted by the sculpture Lysippos.
Athens, as Socrates predicted, came around and saw things the way he did.
The lesson is to not be intimidated by bad thinking NO MATTER who, or from how many it comes from.
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