Almost five years ago, Christmas 2006, I was home and bummed having ended a long-term relationship. Flipping channels, I came across Alain de Botton's Philosophy: A Guide To Happiness on PBS World, right at the beginning of Socrates' episode. It was a heaven-send, and greatly consoled me through the pain I was feeling and brought be comfort. It was so good, that I stuck around for the next episode in the series, featuring Epicurus and his perspcription for happiness. It was a different subject-matter, though similarly helpful:
The issue is this: we want, for example, friendship, which everyone agrees brings happiness. Knowing this, advertisers display a group of friends laughing in camaraderie around a television. The implied subtext is that if we had that TV, we could have parties, and the socialization and good cheer that comes with them. So, we buy the television as a means to an end: friendship. Epicurus reminds us that if we want friendship, the television isn't necessary. Moreover, if the TV was ever necessary for those others to be spending time with us, then as our mothers would agree, they were never really our friends.
So, most of our problems are due to that we're confused on how to attain happiness. Friends are free, or they should be. I found Epicurus's philosophy encouragingly optimistic and accessible. Part 3 of Epicureanism's simple Four-Part Guide for Happiness states:
What is good is easy to get...
Also from the video, I found it interesting that a wealthy devotee of Epicurus had plastered a local market with reminders of such teachings. What if everywhere in our local malls were posted: "Go ahead and buy, but it won't make you happy".
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Incidentally, the documentaries are based on de Botton's excellent book, The Consolations of Philosophy, which I borrowed from Norwalk's public library the very next business day. Stumbling across that documentary was an awakening and I count it as a turning-point in my life.
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