Epicureanism – the main beliefs

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From time to time I post a short list of the main teachings of Epicurus

1. Overall End or “Summum Bonum” or “Reason for Living”: Happiness or Pleasure. Happiness is peace of mind and body. It is tranquillity or undisturbedness (ataraxia), the quiet of a mind free from fear (or anxiety) and a body content with natural satisfactions.

2. Mental pleasure is better than bodily pleasure.

3. Mental pain (anxiety) is worse than bodily pain.

4. Quality of pleasure is more important than quantity of pleasure.

5. Fear causes mental disturbance.

6. Do not fear the gods: They do not concern themselves with human problems; nor do they reward or punish.

7. Do not fear death: Life is feeling or sensation; when life ends, there is no feeling (no pain); death does not hurt.

8. Do not fear physical nature: Nature is indifferent; the universe is but the motion and the mingling of atoms.

9. Exercise prudence: Although every pleasure in itself is good and every pain is evil, some pains should be endured for the sake of future pleasure and some pleasures should be forgone since they may lead to future pain.

10. Live simply and prudently (with self-control and moderation). Seek simple pleasures, those that satisfy natural and necessary desires. By nature we need food, drink, clothing, shelter, prudence (reason), and friendship.

11. Seeking luxuries (extravagant food, excessive drink, sexual love, and the like) creates anxiety in our minds and disturbance in our bodies.

12. Avoid excess of all kinds; simple pleasures (with a gentle motion of atoms) are preferable to painful excesses (with a violent motion of atoms).

13. Make friends: They provide security and pleasant conversation.

14. Avoid disturbing people. Stay in the Garden with your friends.

15. Make agreements with others (laws), so that you will not disturb one another.

16. There is no right or wrong (justice or injustice) outside of these agreements. Agreements (and justice therefore) differ from community to community. [cultural relativism]

17. Live justly (obey the laws), so that you will not have the anxiety of wondering if you will be caught and punished.

18. When you are old, think about the good times you have had. That will make up for bodily pain.

19. When you are young, think about the good that lies ahead. Do not fear the future. We can control some things, but we cannot control everything.

20. Dread (anxiety or fear) is worse than present bodily suffering. Present suffering soon passes; anxiety lasts a long time.

21. When enough security against other people is achieved, if one has enough power and material wealth as a base, then one can have the safety of a quiet life in solitude apart from the crowd.

(Compiled by Gordon L. Ziniewicz from  Principal Doctrines, XIV)

Be careful who you believe!

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Oklahoma is trying to return its $2 million purchase of hydroxychloroquine and get a refund from the manufacturer. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt ordered the purchase of the malaria drug in April, when President Trump was promoting it as a “miracle” treatment for Covid-19. Studies, however, have found the drug inappropriate (actually useless, to be honest, except for treatment of malaria, as advertised).  Stitt’s spokeswoman said he made the purchase “with the health and lives of Oklahomans in mind.”  (The Week USA)

My comment:  one should be able to believe a US President when he recommends a health product.   After all, he has, at the snap of his fingers, a huge phalanx of medical experts to advise him.  I feel sorry for Gov. Stitt.  Some people in the United States ignore or disdain both science and the experts and broadcast the first thing that comes into their heads.  Which is a shame.  Never mind – it just means fewer funds for schools, law and order ……  and so on.  Big Money will still fork out hugely for Gov. Stitt’s next election.  So that’s o.k.

With apologies for the intended irony.

Grandfather of the Year

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A woman in a supermarket is following a grandfather and his badly-behaved grandson. He has his hands full with the child screaming for candy, cookies, all sorts of things.

The grandpa is saying in a controlled voice: “Easy, William, we won’t be long—easy, boy.” The boy has another outburst and she hears the grandpa calmly say : “It’s okay, William. Just a couple more minutes and we’ll be out of here. Hang in there, son.”

At the checkout the little horror is throwing items out of the shopping cart. Grandpa says again in a controlled voice, “William, William, relax buddy, don’t get upset. We’ll be home in five minutes, stay cool, William.”

Very impressed, she goes outside to where the grandfather is loading his groceries and the boy into the car. She says: “It’s none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don’t know how you did it. That whole time you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay. William is very lucky to have you as his grandpa.”]

“Thanks,” says the grandpa, “but I am William. This little bastard’s name is Kevin.

 

Now some important philosophical questions on life…….

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Why do supermarkets make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front?

 Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke?

 Why do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters?

 Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in our driveways and put our useless junk in the garage?

 Ever wonder……. Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

 Why can’t women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

 Why don’t you ever see the headline ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?

 Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavoring, and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?

 Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

 Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

 Why isn’t there mouse-flavoured cat food?
 
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

 You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that stuff?

 Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?

 Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

 If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Sloppy oversight?

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There is an allegation that Federal officials misused money set aside in the biomedical research fund in the years before the coronavirus emerged.

Officials overseeing the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an arm of the federal health department, used millions of dollars from the fund to pay for unrelated salaries, administrative expenses and even the cost of removing office furniture, according to the findings from an inspector general investigation of a whistleblower complaint shared with The Washington Post.
The unidentified whistleblower alleged that officials wrongly dipped into the money set aside by Congress, beginning in fiscal year 2010 and continuing through at least fiscal year 2019, spanning both the Obama and Trump administrations.

My comment:  Detail is missing in the report, but the result would appear to have helped to make the fight against the coronavirus even more difficult than it needed to be.  When you add the hands-off incompetence of the government after the emergence of covid 19 you have to wonder about the people we pay to run the country.  Come back integrity and forethought!