Comments on: Cavafy on the beach… https://johndcmasters.com/cavafy-on-the-beach/ Mon, 08 Sep 2014 15:07:36 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: John https://johndcmasters.com/cavafy-on-the-beach/#comment-4478 Mon, 08 Sep 2014 15:07:36 +0000 https://johndcmasters.com/?p=1280#comment-4478 In reply to peter macken.

Thank you Peter. I hate eating alone. All three of these concepts are important to me, especially the analyzed life idea. An unexamined life is not worth living. JDCM

]]> By: peter macken https://johndcmasters.com/cavafy-on-the-beach/#comment-4474 Mon, 08 Sep 2014 10:53:03 +0000 https://johndcmasters.com/?p=1280#comment-4474 Epicurus valued friendship very much, so when he was 35 years old he bought a big house, and invited some of his friends to live together with him. He stated that friends are an essential ingredient for happiness, and that we need their permanent company -when we eat, walk, or feel the need for conversation. Epicurus said one should never ever eat anything alone, that it’s more important to have a simple meal with a special friend than to eat all sort of delicacies all by ourselves.

Freedom stands for the second ingredient of happiness. To break free from the agitated life of Athens, he and his friends decided to move to the countryside and lead a simple, beautiful, healthy life there. They could grow their own food crops and did not depend financially on anybody anymore. They could enjoy nature, fresh air, good food, and did not care if their clothes looked shabby. Money seemed to no longer have power over them.

And last but not least, a third thing we need to be happy is “an analyzed life”. That meant taking time to think and consider our worries, what stresses out and why. Epicurus was of the opinion that our worries might decrease simply by analyzing them very carefully and rationally. In this respect, one might take into account here the Christian perspective on worries – namely trusting the Almighty to provide us with all the necessary goods we need to survive. At any rate, though he lived before the appearance of Christianity, Epicurus seems to agree that we should base our life on a spiritual support rather than a material one in order to be utterly, divinely happy.

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