The Handbook of Epicurus: The Unlived Life
The Unlived Life:
Rejecting Pleasure to Avoid Pain in The Handbook of Epicurus
According to The Handbook of Epicurus, achieving the good life can only be done by living the life of apatheia- life free from emotional disturbance and worry. Epicurus proposes that in order to achieve true apatheia man must completely detach himself from everything outside his control: from the body, from possessions, from death, and from relationships with others. It is only through accepting that we lack control in the world order that true peace can be achieved. By focusing primarily on what one can control, namely one’s opinions, impulses, desires, and aversions, Epicurus believes that apatheia will be reached and the good life finally lived. However, in order to reach the life of apatheia Epicurus essentially suggests removing all pleasures from life because they also result in pain and worry. Although a life without pain and worry (apatheia) does sound ideal, it removes the very emotional base that gives life its substance. In order to truly experience life, you must experience pain so that you can also experience joy. Although the life of apatheia seeks to remove the possibility of pain, it in turn removes any possibility of experiencing true delight, experiences which give life meaning. Epicurus proposes experiencing everything in moderation and removing all attachments to others. In removing all these things the life of apatheia ultimately results in a life unlived.
The foundation of Epicurus’s apatheia lies in accepting life as it is given to you. Multiple times throughout The Handbook Epicurus makes it clear that one should “not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well” (13). On the surface this theory simply requires people to stop seeking out what they do not have or trying to control their own fates. Epicurus further emphasizes the importance of accepting one’s fate by comparing
Rejecting Pleasure to Avoid Pain in The Handbook of Epicurus
According to The Handbook of Epicurus, achieving the good life can only be done by living the life of apatheia- life free from emotional disturbance and worry. Epicurus proposes that in order to achieve true apatheia man must completely detach himself from everything outside his control: from the body, from possessions, from death, and from relationships with others. It is only through accepting that we lack control in the world order that true peace can be achieved. By focusing primarily on what one can control, namely one’s opinions, impulses, desires, and aversions, Epicurus believes that apatheia will be reached and the good life finally lived. However, in order to reach the life of apatheia Epicurus essentially suggests removing all pleasures from life because they also result in pain and worry. Although a life without pain and worry (apatheia) does sound ideal, it removes the very emotional base that gives life its substance. In order to truly experience life, you must experience pain so that you can also experience joy. Although the life of apatheia seeks to remove the possibility of pain, it in turn removes any possibility of experiencing true delight, experiences which give life meaning. Epicurus proposes experiencing everything in moderation and removing all attachments to others. In removing all these things the life of apatheia ultimately results in a life unlived.
The foundation of Epicurus’s apatheia lies in accepting life as it is given to you. Multiple times throughout The Handbook Epicurus makes it clear that one should “not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well” (13). On the surface this theory simply requires people to stop seeking out what they do not have or trying to control their own fates. Epicurus further emphasizes the importance of accepting one’s fate by comparing