4 Steps To Live A Good Life According To Epicurus
And it’s not hard to practice these steps
Epicurus was one of the ancient philosophers who studied happiness and life. He wanted to make philosophy an active practice. That’s why he conducted his experiments and based on the results, he deduced these 4 steps to live a good life:
Don’t fear God
Epicurus said that everything is made of atoms and I agree with that. There are matter and void in the universe.
According to Epicurus, God is also made of matter and God does not interfere with humans. God does not give trouble to humans. God lives far away from us and He is happy wherever He is.
God leaves us alone and therefore we should also leave God. Don’t think about God as some divine entity and don’t fear him. That’s the way to live a good life.
Don’t worry about death
I will start with this quote on death by Epicurus:
“Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are death has not come, and when death has come, we are not. It is nothing, then, either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.” — Epicurus
Death is inevitable, no doubt, but the dead has no awareness, and it is no good or evil without awareness. So if death is not evil, why fear it in the first place.
Epicurus also believed that there is no afterlife after death. So we don’t need to worry about whether we will go to heaven or hell after death.
Practice moderation
To live a good life without much pain, people should practice moderation. By that, Epicurus means that don’t chase unnecessary pleasure. It is irrational to chase pleasure beyond a certain point.
Chasing pleasure is one of the biggest causes of pain. Chasing pain arouses expectations and when those expectations are not met, we feel sad.
Epicurus says that to live a good life, we need:
“Food and water to keep our body working, home to live, and friends to converse.”
That’s it. That’s all you need to live a happy life.
What is terrible, is easy to endure
There are two types of pain:
- Short and acute
- Chronic and mild
It will never be chronic and acute. Therefore, it’s not that difficult to endure the pain.
Generally, it’s the prospects of pain that is more terrifying than the pain itself. For examples, the mental anguish of jumping in a cold pool is much larger than the physical discomfort.
So, pain is endurable and there is no need to worry about it.
Recap
There are the 4 steps to live a good life according to Epicurus:
- Don’t fear God
- Don’t worry about death
- Practice moderation
- What is terrible, is easy to endure