The article Epicurus on Wealth and Happiness concluded that the path to true happiness lies in concentrating our efforts on nourishing those aspects of human life that Epicurus sees as both natural and necessary.
These aspects of life include cultivating genuine friendships and the freedom to be oneself in both body and mind. All other pursuits, such as the quest for fame and glory, whether successful or not, will not lead to any lasting happiness if those fundamental needs are not first met.
Happiness as a State of Mind
Happiness is a state of mind and throwing money at the problem is not a solution. What one needs to cultivate is an awareness of true needs. Epicurus sees that much consumer behaviour is a displacement reaction, with a lack of personal insight into the real desires people are trying to fulfill.
That sports car is really a desire for freedom; that expensive banquet is a need for some close friends; that luxury holiday is a longing for quality time in quiet contemplation.
Even as far back as ancient Greece, Epicurus pointed the finger of blame for this psychological flaw to the "idle opinions" of the masses, fed by the corporate desire to increase profits by propagating a purely material vision of the good life. However, true happiness cannot be bought wholesale, repackaged and sold at a profit.
Setting the Right Goals
Such philosophical insights into the workings of happiness will be better appreciated when backed up by a psychological plan of action. How can one stop oneself from going down the path of illusory goals?
Epicurus sets out a rational five point plan to guide people into realising their true motivations. By analysing one's initial aims and desires the method leads to an increased awareness of whether such ambitions are really in accord with our natural desire for true happiness.
Epicurus' Five Steps to Genuine Happiness
- Imagine your current desire projected into the future. For example, you want that fast sports car.
- Now imagine that your desire does not actually lead to the expected happiness. For example, the car is fantastic but you're always driving on your own. Alternatively, going for a drive in your existing car might be more pleasurable if in the company of the right person.
- If you find such cases that do not lead to happiness then the original object of desire was neither natural nor necessary and therefore will ultimately not lead to the hoped for pleasure.
- By such analysis the original desire should be recast to take into account any exceptions just found. In this example, it becomes clearer that whether you have an expensive car or not, true happiness comes from sharing the experience with the right person in the passenger seat.
- Your true needs should now be clearer than your impulsive initial desire. In the language of Epicurus, having established your natural and necessary desires you are in a better position to judge whether you can really afford that new car in the full knowledge that it will not be the real source of happiness.
It is best to set down in writing the whole process so that the mind does not play tricks on itself. The whole analysis essentially starts with an object of desire and then adds things that would make it more pleasurable and subtracts things that make it less.
By doing so it is possible that the original object disappears entirely, replaced by something that is both more important and less expensive.
To twist a famous saying; you can't always get what you want, but you can get everything that you truly need.
Richard Mankiewicz - I write on a wide variety of topics from the broad perspective of the relationship between the arts and sciences. The aim is to break down ...
