The Art of Happiness According to Epicureanism and Matthew McConaughey

3 Unique Skills For Cultivating Joy In Life

Epicurean philosophy, which developed around 300 BC in ancient Greece, holds that the art of happiness consists in a life of ethical hedonism. Matthew McConaughey’s recent memoir, Greenlights, also advocates ethical hedonism as the path to living well, but not the Epicurean kind.

An episode from McConaughey’s life might clarify the philosophical stakes.

In his early 30s, McConaughey found himself emotionally exhausted after some months of physical indulgence at the Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles. So he left Hollywood behind, traveled to Africa, and made efforts to learn from local villagers. Soon, his reputation for strength landed him in a competition.

Michael, a local wrestling champion from Begnemato, challenged McConaughey to a match in a dirt pit. Having only informal training, but excellent physical conditioning he thought: “Take the challenge or you will forever regret not knowing” (200).

In a surprising turn of events, the match ended in a draw, though McConaughey was bloodier and generally worse off. The next morning, as he prepared for his 15-mile walk to the next village, Michael waited for him at the perimeter of Begnemato. McConaughey recalls:

Without a spoken word he gently put his palm in mine as I approached and proceeded to walk with me the full fifteen miles to the next village, holding my hand the entire way. When we arrived, he released me, silently turned around, and walked the fifteen miles back to Begnemato alone (200).

They had forged an improbable bond of friendship through mutual respect. Five years later McConaughey even returned to visit Michael and his new wife and children.

The philosophical stakes of this episode are two-fold. First, they show that like Epicurean philosophy, McConaughey agrees that the pursuit of bodily pleasures cannot be your ultimate goal in life. His experience at the Chateau was a draining one.

Second, they show that unlike Epicurean philosophy, McConaughey advocates the pursuit of some positive experiences. To clarify, Epicurus held that a happy life is one of tranquility, ataraxia, and the absence of pain, aponia. McConaughey holds that the best life consists in having certain unique, joyful experiences, even if some pain is involved — from wrestling competitions to marriage and children.

That’s what he calls catching life’s greenlights.

Philosophically, I’m going to argue that McConaughey is right about pleasure — even if I am inclined to a different general view on life. Practically, I want to explain his skills to help you live more joyfully.

To prepare the way, I need to address the proverbial elephant in the room: why should anyone — especially a professionally trained philosopher like me — pay any attention to Matthew McConaughey?

My answer is that there is value, even for the professionals, in listening to folk philosophy.

A Word About Folk Philosophy

Malcolm Little did not have an upstanding young adult life. He was involved in prostitution, drug dealing, and burglary. Predictably, in 1946, he was arrested for grand theft and sentenced to 10 years in jail. For about the first year of his time, he mostly watched the clock on the wall hoping to get out.

But then, one day, he went to the prison library and checked out a dictionary. Then he went to the prison commissary and bought a pencil and a notepad. Then he began to copy the dictionary word by word teaching himself to read.

Finally, he went on to read books of philosophy, history, religion — anything he could get his hands on. It is in this process, while in prison, that Malcolm Little transformed into Malcolm X (chapter 11, Autobiography).

Though never formally trained in philosophy, he developed an important and original view on the character of race and its implications for achieving a just society.

Even the barest acquaintance with Malcolm X’s life thus demonstrates the value of “folk philosophy.”

As a discipline, philosophy divides between its pursuit of theoretical and practical wisdom. Topics in the former domain cover how we come to know things and what they are — epistemology and metaphysics. Topics in the latter domain concern how we are to live — ethics.

There are undoubtedly topics in ethical philosophy that are only accessible to professionals, such as whether modal systems of logical implication can express the character and strength of deontic obligations as usually conceived.

Yet, because life is so complex, there are also good reasons to think that ordinary folks who have had unique experiences will have something to contribute.

Their life might have led them to develop different mental models for interpersonal reality or to recognize the limits of existing concepts.

Malcolm X stands in this space, as does Malala Yousafzai. For a completely different set of experiences, McConaughey does too.

McConaughey’s memoir is a self-consciously styled work of philosophy. It was prompted, he writes, from reflection on one thought: “The arrival is inevitable: Death” (11).

Though he was voted most handsome in high school, he was abused physically by his father, psychologically by his mother, sexually pressured into losing his virginity, and molested by a man (9–10).

Moreover, having come from a working-class family in an obscure town from Texas, Uvalde, he lucked in — by his own admission — to A-list status in Hollywood. Unlike some, the experience provoked a crisis so deep that he fled to the desert to seek consolation in a Christian brotherhood, and then lived out of a truck and trailer for years.

Finally, his conclusion about how to live — in response to circumstances that none of us will ever face — points to an inadequacy in one of the most revered schools of ethical hedonism, namely Epicureanism.

So I think it’s worth listening to his views on how to make the most of our positive experiences in life, even if you are a professional philosopher. Let’s start with what’s different in Epicurean philosophy.

Beyond Epicurean Philosophy?

Most of the best works of Epicurus have been lost to history, so that we have to rely on reports by others who were hostile to the school, such as Cicero, or to later accounts in the Roman empire, such as Lucretius’ On The Nature of Things.

But we have enough to know the main points of their ethical philosophy. To begin, and this is why Epicureanism is a kind of hedonism, they hold that only pleasure is intrinsically valuable. Here’s Epicurus himself:

This is why we say that pleasure is the beginning and end of the blessed life. For we recognize pleasure as the good … from which begin every choice and … we come back to it using the feeling as the yardstick (LS 21B).

In simpler terms: what is good is feeling good. We use this sense to judge all decisions in life.

Second, because the good is a pleasurable feeling, the virtues — good skills and qualities of character — are not themselves good. They are only instruments, like having a pair of gloves to hold hot items from the stove, but not life’s meal itself (LS 21B).

Stoic and Epicurean philosophy stand at odds on this point. The Stoics (like Aristotle and Plato before them) hold that you are the linked sequence of actions in the world. If you perform that sequence well, with virtue, then you are good and your life has value. Otherwise, it doesn’t.

Epicureans, by contrast, hold that the consequences of your actions, specifically whether they promote pleasurable feelings, are the only things of value.

Finally, however, Epicurean’s don’t think it wise to go in pursuit of high-intensity experiences, like using drugs, to be happy. Cicero, summarizing Epicurus, writes:

Hence Epicurus did not accept the experience of anything in between pleasure and pain. What some people regarded as in between — the complete absence of pain — was not only [held to be] pleasure but the greatest pleasure (LS 21A).

The Epicureans defined pleasure as the absence of pain. As a result, if your experience using drugs brings any pain, by a hangover for example, then the whole experience is to be considered painful.

This leads to an unexpectedly cautious hedonism. Your life’s goal should be tranquility, one with as little pain as possible. That means you should lead a simple, minimalist life.

The Case for Positive Pleasures

While Epicurus defines pleasure as the absence of pain, a legitimate question is whether that definition isn’t in need of correction.

Like almost any philosopher of ancient Greece, Epicurus thought of pleasure as satisfying a desire. Eating food is pleasurable, for example, because you’re hungry. When you’re stuffed, you couldn’t be bothered with food (LS 21A).

The reason Epicurus worried about pursuing positive experiences, then, was because you had to cater to your wants in order to have them, and your wants can always grow. They also increase the likelihood of incurring some pain along the way.

But what about surprise? What about joy? What about the feeling of elevation? None of these to turn on wanting something first.

McConaughey’s whole experience with Michael on the outskirts of Begnemato emerged from no expectation whatsoever. And while it included physical pain, he was rewarded with a more meaningful pleasure.

The philosophical point, in sort, is that pleasure isn’t as simple as Epicurus thought, and that opens the logical space for the intelligent pursuit of certain positive pleasures.

Rather than use the classical term “virtue,” McConaughey advocates the cultivation of three chief skills to achieve these experiences.

Skill #1: Identify Life’s “Traffic Signals”

McConaughey’s basic metaphor is that you can think of your life as a series of intersections as you travel along. These each have traffic signals that either allow you to pass, or divert your flow, or prevent forward motion altogether — green, yellow, and red lights respectively (13).

The most basic skill you’ll need to find better experiences is to recognize what the light reads at the intersection where you are. To understand how to apply this, McConaughey relates the story of when he was arrested.

After finally settling into a rental property in Austin, Texas — leaving behind his days on the road — McConaughey decided to throw his own little celebration at home: getting high on marijuana, stripping down naked, and playing on his bongo drum at 2:30 am. He relates:

What I didn’t know was that while I was banging away in my bliss, two Austin policemen also thought it was time to barge into my house unannounced, wrestle me to the ground with nightsticks, handcuff me, and pin me to the floor (178).

This was a red light moment in his life, but he didn’t realize it exactly. So he repeatedly refused blankets and clothing as he was hauled away to the police station. Each time he was offered covering he yelled that it was proof of his innocence.

But he eventually got the message, writing:

At the double doors to admissions, a six-foot-six, 285-pound, tatted-up, working inmate greeted me just outside the entryway. He was holding a pair of men’s orange institutional pants. Before he could say a word, I said, “proof of my innocence, man.”

He just looked at me, seeming to understand but knowing better. “We all innocent, man. Trust me, you do wanna put these on” (180).

At that point, McConaughey recognized what his situation was and put the orange suit on. It was his first step towards getting almost all of the charges dropped for the incident.

How To Apply This

Your job is simply to label what you are facing. You could say it, but you really only need to think it. Just answer the question: is this a red, yellow, or greenlight situation?

It can be just as hard to recognize that you are in a positive situation as a negative one, but the ability to step back and assess clearly what you are facing is how you can begin to move onto a better opportunity.

And that leads you to the next basic skill: transforming your opportunities.

Skill #2: Change Life’s Opportunities

While traveling around the country with his truck and trailer, McConaughey stopped off at an RV park with a bar in Montana. What he ran into was initially a yellow light situation.

While trying to watch a game, McConaughey recounts how he was interrupted:

“Hey, you Matthew McConaughey?” a voice to my left drunkenly asked.

Making sure to stake my ground and not appear to be an easy pretty for their night’s entertainment,* I answered in a semi-smartass way, “For twenty-nine years,” I said. “Why?”

Too drunk to catch my dis, a big smile came across the guy’s face and he said, “Shi-iit, I knew it!”

He grabbed my hand and shook it (169–170).

In the footnote to this section, McConaughey explains that he realized that he needed to set the right expectations so that the people in the bar would treat him as just another person, and not a celebrity.

Because they started in this way, the night continued until they were playing dice at 3 am and exchanging stories about their children and loved ones. No photos, but a memorable night.

How To Apply This

There are no simple rules for turning a situation around. That’s why McConaughey insists that it’s a skill, and ancient Greek philosophers would have called it an “art.”

But the basics of a good human interchange begin from a place of mutual respect. That’s why McConaughey began by setting up boundaries.

It was an initial “no” so that the rest of the night might become a “green light” yes. And if you can’t start from that place of mutual respect, then your best bet is to leave for a time.

But if you do get into that better space, then it’s time to turn to the third basic skill for positive experiences.

Skill #3: Accelerate Through Life’s “Green Lights”

Not many of us are ever in a position to have our basic physical desires satisfied by mere assent. That’s why philosophers’ criticisms bodily hedonism, as when Plato does it in book 9 of his Republic, tend to come off as sour grapes reasoning.

McConaughey’s description of his Chateau experience does not suffer this drawback. While he states plainly that he did enjoy partaking of what life had to offer, the continued exposure left him drained (184).

Instead, he recommends the pursuit of surprising, unique, and meaningful experiences. These provide the kind of joy and memories that can sustain your life’s outlook.

But how exactly are you to do it?

How To Accomplish This

For McConaughey, the key to cultivating unique positive experiences has two parts.

First, do not set up preconceptions. You cannot be surprised if you have expectations. Instead, you will at best be satisfied, but more likely disappointed.
Second, rise to the occasion when it presents itself.

In his trip to Africa where he wrestled Michael in a dirt pit, McConaughey didn’t even know where he was going. It was the opposite of the kind of trip that so many people take, where they plan every little detail. He only knew his initial destination and planned for safety (having a guide and supplies).

When the situation arose, he knew he would regret not trying, even if he were likely to be defeated.

McConaughey describes how he found his wife, Camila, in a similar way. After a series of failed attempts, he realized that he would be happy if he never met the one. He could be a father without that kind of relationship. So he stopped searching — or at least searching with detailed expectations.

Then when at a Club on Sunset Boulevard he saw a woman who didn’t try to charm him, who seemed sure of herself just as she was. And he thought:

This is not the type of woman you wave over from across a bar, son. Get your ass up, young man, and go introduce yourself (226).

And so he got up, tried speaking to her despite not knowing Portugues well, and made her the best margarita he could.

The lesson, in a line, is that memorable, positive experiences are born from an open mind and the courage to act on an opportunity when it arises.

The Art of Happiness

All the major traditions of the ancient world, from Greece to India, China, and the Aztecs and Mayans, held that you could learn to be happy. They also thought that its practice was an art, a set of skills that could be learned through practice.

In the ancient “West,” Epicureanism emerged as the only philosophical school that genuinely recommended the pursuit of pleasure as happiness. To be defensible, Epicurus conceived of pleasure as the absence of pain. And while he offered a reasonable strategy to achieve tranquility, most people want to live a little.

Matthew McConaughey’s folk philosophy advances reasons to think that the pursuit of some positive pleasures is worth attempting. His is an ethical hedonism where you do get to live a little. As far as that claim goes — and this matters for philosophical purposes — I think he’s right.

Practically, what matters is that he provides you with three basic skills to achieve greater and more frequent life-defining joys.

Identify the kind of situation you are in by labeling it.
Learn to change a situation for the better by centering your dealings with other people on the basis of mutual respect.
Press the “gas pedal” on life’s green lights by allowing yourself to be surprised and rising to the occasion.

Notably, what McConaughey does not recommend is the pursuit of physical pleasures as your life-defining goal.

Even if you’re not a hedonist, as I am not, there is value to be found in this outlook. Personally, I found myself acting as McConaughey suggests during COVID.

I am a university professor and teaching over Zoom has been challenging. In the first days of the semester, I witnessed students turning off their cameras for “personal reasons” and I gathered that if the trend were to continue, I would soon be lecturing to a sea of blank screens. It was a “yellow light” moment.

In response, I instated a rule that all the students should keep their cameras on because it was crucial to maintain an online community — it was about mutual respect.

And while they grumbled, we kept at community building along with class lectures: introducing parents and roommates when they walked into the screen, practicing daily gratitude to keep the mood up, and ending the semester with a “bring your pets to class” day.

It worked. They learned and they got along. Several students emailed me in thanks at the end and one graduating senior sent me a gift card for books after the final grades were in.

This episode reveals the paradox at the heart of McConaughey’s hedonism: better experiences follow harder choices. It also seems to constitute a basic truth of life.

I’ll leave you with a final statement from Epicurus on which both ancient and modern hedonists could agree.

We must not compel nature but persuade her. And we shall persuade her by fulfilling the necessary desires and the natural ones if they do no harm (LS 21F).

Thank you for reading and I hope you learned something.

For more philosophy as a way of life, using all of the world’s traditions, join my newsletter.

Sebastian Purcell’s research specializes in world comparative philosophy, especially as these ancient traditions teach us how to lead happier, richer lives. He lives with his wife, a fellow philosopher, and their three cats in upstate New York.