Live while you are alive
People seem to have a natural happiness baseline to which they return after a sad or an exciting experience. A new, fancy sports car does not budge the baseline. It is unintelligent to depend on fancy apartments and clothes. We don’t need them. The pleasure we derive from them is momentary. What we need is …
Epicureanism is supposed to be a rational belief that disposes with the old wives tales and superstitions of the ages. But habit dies hard, and I have to tell you that this Epicurean still believes that problems come in threes, just as grandmother said they would. Today, snow is on the ground where I live, …
Epicurus was convinced that mental pleasures surpass physical pleasures, largely because the mind has the advantage of being able to contemplate the pleasures of the past and anticipate pleasures of the future. He doesn’t mention – but probably would – that the mind also has the disadvantage of popping up and reminding you of mis-steps …
Yesterday I gave an example of how Epicureanism could (and has been!) interpreted – as a selfish creed. I gave the example of the man who abandons a wife and kids out of selfish motives of personal pleasure, offering neither help nor support to the family he helped to create. There are plenty of men …
54% of men and 31% of women in their 70s and 80s describe themselves as sexually active. However, only 31% of men and 20% of women of that age say they often kiss their partners. (English Longitudinal Study of Ageing/The Telegraph) Bother! And here I am I telling Americans how romantic British men are!
