Why Epicurus Believed Real Happiness Isn’t for Sale

Epicurus believed we could all be happy, but some are simply looking in the wrong place. The modern age thinks the key to happiness is a lot of money, so we can go shopping. And although he didn't think we should feel guilty about having a pleasurable and enjoyable life, Epicurus wanted us to stop, think, and ask ourselves. It's easy to say that money can solve everything, but can it?

Epicurus was committed to a life of happiness: he liked sex, laughter, and beauty. People who like luxurious lifestyles can often be termed Epicurean, but that is a complete misunderstanding. Epicurus did not live a luxurious lifestyle. However, he thought he knew why we shop so much. It is because we don't really understand what we need, and so we fall prey to supplemental material desires.

"Life is good! Make sure to enjoy it." - Epicurus

The ingredients for happiness start with friends. One of his most distinctive ideas was that friends are a major source of happiness. And, to really understand the benefit, you had to live with them as a permanent companion. Epicurus would say (verbatim), "A man who sits to eat without friends leads the life of a lion or a wolf."

The second thing we need to feel happy is freedom. To be financially independent and self-sufficient. We must free ourselves from everyday life and politics. Epicurus followed his own philosophy, so he and his friends left their cities and started a commune. Their life was simple, but they enjoyed their freedom. They didn't mind if they looked shabby or didn't have as much money as other people because they were self-sufficient and had gained their independence from what other people thought. So, in a financial sense, they had nothing to prove.

The third thing needed for happiness is an analysed life. If we actually take time off to analyze what is troubling us and reflect on our worries and anxieties diminish because we have confronted the problem (and maybe solved it). We need to take a step back from the noisy and busy environment of the commercial world and take time for quiet thinking about our lives.

Loads of money have never made people mad, but if you have friends, are self-sufficient (freedom), and live an analyzed life, then you will never be denied happiness. Conversely, if you have tons of money but have no friends, do not analyze your life, and are not self-sufficient, you can not be happy.

So, why aren't more of us actually happy? Advertising! It makes us feel as if there are all sorts of things missing from our lives. The commercial world slyly associates the things it wants to sell us with the things it knows we need and want. This is why a lot of products attach themselves to representing a lifestyle.

The 300 books he wrote have been lost, but his philosophy has turned into a kind of creed. He had a bold and practical solution to shopping so much. We have to counteract advertisements by saying what we really need (i.e., friends, freedom, and self-analysis) because when we are invited to go shopping by bright lights and enticing displays, we quickly lose sight of our real desires.

In around 120 AD, Diogenes of Oenoanda inscribed Epicurus's philosophy on a large wall facing his marketplace. He commissioned the giant wall so that all the citizens of his town could learn and be inspired by it. The wall was self-explanatory and said it was constructed because there are so many people who don't know how to be happy. Letters were in red, and the wall could be seen from anywhere in the Agora (i.e., the marketplace). As one fragment said: "luxurious food and drink, in no way, protects you from harm." The wall reminded people that shopping wasn't necessarily going to make them happy.

Diogenes did this because he understood Epicurean philosophy. One of Epicurus's ideas was that, in order to be happy, it wasn't enough to read an argument once or twice; we need constant reminders, or we will forget. This means if Epicurus were alive today, he would avidly support the production, placement, and use of more public service announcements.

The obstacles to obtaining happiness are not primarily financial because shopping malls don't provide us with the key ingredient to happiness. The world today is horribly confused about what makes one happy. If we really knew what we needed, there are few things we would be desperate to buy!

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