"It is better for you to be free from fearlying on a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble." How "New Age" is that suggestion? It comes to us from Epicurus as he strolled in his Greek garden almost 2500 years ago! In a letter written to his friend Pythocles he offered this advice about a mutual friend: "Do not give him more money, but diminish his desire."
I've been reading Fragments, The Extant Remains of Epicurus, nicely translated by Cyril Bailey, for research and even moreso for its gift of peace of mind. As we left the library with this book, I was reading aloud to my friend with my usual delight and she remarked: "Can you believe we knew this so long ago and have never really learned the lesson?" Yes, philosophy has rung the warning siren against the trap sprung by desire and greed forever. Why? Though pleasure is just fine and a big part of the human experience, if we are not smart, we lose our minds and our hearts to what Epicurus calls "vain fancies." Just basic common sense can distinguish between what we need for good living and those "fancies" that come packed with trouble - - debt, anxiety, preoccupation, and foolish slavery to the marketplace. We must connect the dots between excess and its consequences.
I was reminded several times of Epicurus in the past few days. A friend plopped exhaustedly on my couch after a day at work featuring "everything at half price" as his company cleared house to move to a new location. The lines strung around the block, the 100 degree heat notwithstanding, and parents stood agitatedly with screaming babies and much more shrill adult screaming continued in the store - at clerks because there was no more of this or that item and at management because there were not enough carts and the store was too crowded. What?! My friend shook his head at the rudeness and anger displayed by disgruntled "customers." It reminded us of the irony of the shopping delirium that overtakes Americans the day after Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving! The day set aside for gratitude and appreciation of, among other things, Epicurus' premiere pleasure, friendship: "Friendship goes dancing around the world proclaiming to us all to awake to the praises of a happy life." Later that day, talking with a financial advisor at a happy graduation party, I asked her what most surprises her clients, especially given the current economic chaos which our Greek gardener could have predicted. Her answer: "People are amazed at how little money it takes to live well."
Enough.
Epicurus nudges us none too gently in closing: "The wise man knows better how to give than to receive." Let's get smart, right now.
