Egoism And Me

Epicurus - a smart guy. Not much gets past him, and no mistake. When he proposed to his Greek peers a couple of millenia back that we were all selfish and should do only things which give us pleasure, he knew what he was doing. He made sure that everyone understood that they should be searching for long-term happiness and pleasure, not just a short-term kick. If they wanted to call themselves egoists, for that was the term that described his newfound philosophy, they would have to be sure of searching and planning for the long-term. Egoism is still in force today, albeit in a cut-down version. Epicurus wrote over a hundred books on philosophy and ethics, but none survive today. Only small villages have kept his teachings alive by word of mouth, and we only have a small snippet of what he did with us today. Epicurus' belief was that, since we were all selfish, the only intrinsic good in life was pleasure - which he describes as an 'absence of pain in the body and trouble in the soul'. By maximising the good done to us (and minimising the harm done to others) Epicurus believed that we could all live happy lives. As with all philosophy, though, there are a lot of faults - not least because, if we all followed an egoistical path in life, not a hell of a lot would get done. But there are two aspects of Epicurus' teaching that follow through into modern life to this very day. Strangely enough, considering the time he wrote and lived in, one of his chief complaints about life was advertising. Even in ancient Greece there was quite a business in public relations. Although they probably didn't call it that, but plenty of carved adverts have been found scattered through the mediterranean. Epicurus thought that advertising sold us things we did not need by associating them with what he thought were the three main goals in life - freedom, friends and an analysed life. Take, for instance, this advert here, which associates its product with a sense of freedom and, clearly, some kind of acquaintance or other. Of course, it's really advertising a drink - which will obviously have no effect on your sex appeal or your social standing - but that is very much Epicurus' point. It's remarkable to see that billboards in the town centre even now are still pandering to us with dreams of his three life aims. The second is, as I mentioned at the start, the golden rule of Tomorrow. It's important, Epicurus says, to plan for the future. In Ancient Greece, the future for many people was a damn sight shorter than it is in today's society, but that makes his theories all the more apt. Epicurus did not believe in an afterlife, or a soul. He believed simply that we should make the most of the time we have. But that meant acting in a way that took into account your actions. Drink, drugs, rock and roll. He would have agreed, no doubt, that it was pleasurable. But it is what he called a short-term good, a short-term pleasure. Everything in moderation, with Temperance the watchword in a world where it is all too easy to live in excess. This time, I'm not trying to say anything. Because I don't want to - it won't benefit me to do so. If you have read this and picked up on how this applies to you, then that's good. But I won't preach, because if you choose to ignore this outright then it's your choice. It might be right. It might be wrong. But what it isn't is my problem. Egoism - looking after number one.