Posts by Marco

I think Elayne gives a good answer in her article ‘On Pain, Pleasure, and Happiness’.

Humans are not inherently insatiable.

Blog Article

On Pain, Pleasure, and Happiness

Not "absence of pain" as a full statement of the goal of life, but “the Feelings are two, pleasure and pain” and “Pleasure is the beginning and the end of a happy life.”

Brief: The feelings are only two, pleasure and pain—there is no third state such as neutral, and there are no “fancy pleasures” which are different from regular pleasures. Because there is no neutral, reducing pain in life is only possible if there is a corresponding increase in pleasure. The extent of pleasure can be…

Elayne

July 15, 2019 at 7:31 PM

Studies find drinking any amount of alcohol, even wine, causes damage to the brain. Coffee (max 3 cups/day), proves to be good for the brain.

Welcome boyh0wdy!.

Cassius, could you explain this? Is it some kind of cynical thinking, and an epicurean should’t worry about being a speck of dust in the universe?

….if you think that you are just a speck of dust in an infinite universe and your life means nothing - drop everything and get your heart right on these issues.

I find it really useful. What would you change? What is wrong with it? (I just want to learn)

I think an epicurean would not die for something abstract like love, a country or honour. The greatest good is life.

Cassius, I speak Dutch, so this is a google translation. No, no further explanation is needed. I found that division into short and long pleasure strange because it doesn't match RS 19.

My personal experience is that if, for example, I paint intensely (I'm sitting alone in a forest somewhere and have no pain or hunger, my cellphone is off, my material is fine and I am not disturbed by noise or passers-by) time falls away. Suddenly I'm two or three hours away, without realizing time. In pleasure there is no time, only flow. I've always associated that feeling of timelessness with RS 19.

But beware, when I think at a moment: 'what am I doing timeless painting', time also comes back. Well-being must not be polluted in any way. Every pollution pulls me back in time.

Godfrey, thanks, yes I know about katastematic v kinetic. But i’m struggling with ‘time’ and ‘pleasure’, like in PD 19.

Are there two types of pleasure? How important is time when having pleasure? Is time important?

…

‘pleasures that last only a short time and pleasures that last much longer.‘

‘If the stoics want to look for the "humanists" all they need to do is look in the mirror.’

Why, Cassius?

This is another Google translation.

In the Netherlands, Professor Van Buuren delved into this problem. He finds very little of the marriage of romantic love to the Greeks and Romans. He find a lot about the woman as mother and manager of the house. He argues that what we think as romantic love is not natural but socially learned behavior. This feels very strange to us because we experience the romantic love just like very naturally. Romantic love has begun with the minstrels in the 12th century in southern France. The great example is the novel Tristan and Isolde. This culture has spread over the west, later also in the Romantic periode, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina and later in Disney.

In all the situations you describe.

Flanders used to be very catholic. Suffering in silence was the way to earn heaven. Flanders was also the battlefield of Europe for hundreds of years, with increasingly dominance by strange countries.

‘Keep silent and endure your pain and destiny’, is in the national character. And complain to your friends about that pain and destiny.

If I show them possible solutions, that means the end of their martyrdom, I think.

In fact…they are not choosing happiness, which is quite easy to find in this prosperous country and times.

Thanks for the wisdome and advice.

How do you respond if you see your friends struggling in the storm and fighting in the battle? Usually they complain about their relationship, money, work, pain.

I answer them that they have to fight their fears, not have to work for something after their death, always have to look for the good, pleasure, wellbeing, and tolerate the bad by thinking about the beautiful days.

That their lives are a result of wrong choices and avoidance.

That the ideal they chase is just a dream, there are only atoms and void.

The reactions are not positive. That's easy talk, what could be learned from an old philosopher, you laughing my troubles away...

Would I better remain silent? Or support their complaints?

Google translate - speaking Dutch.

Did you find his e-mail ? Thanks.

I’m from Belgium. But my English is’nt that good… so get in contact. I’ve worked on translations of Philodemus, Greenblatt… in Dutch. Also fom other interesting people, like Johan Braeckman ( who I think is a hidden epicurist - watch his Youtube video on ‘Luiheid’.