The Epicurean concept of ataraxia means freedom from mental disturbances. Epicurus taught that such freedom is a necessary component in the lifetime pursuit of rational pleasure which leads ultimately to eudaimonia (the flourishing of one's life).
Epicurus is truly the philosopher of freedom--of the sort that most of us modern lovers of liberty seek--and the fact that he accurately laid out all of the essentials millennia ago is truly remarkable. And what are these essentials?
1. Get off the grid. Get out of "the system". Fly below the radar and withdraw (preferably with friends) to a quiet peaceful area and get about the business of rationally discovering and pursuing what one truly wants in life.
2. Live simply. One's financial status does not affect one's ability to be happy. For more on this, check out the excellent Epicurus on Happiness series of videos that can be found on You Tube.
3. Free yourself of mental disturbances, which you can do by focusing only on those things that enable you to fulfill your true purpose in life.
It's with this point that I have some issues and conflicts. First of all, my noticing of the progress that I have made down the path of ataraxia has been a rather uncomfortable situation. Time after time, I'll attempt to discuss the artistic merits of a movie I've seen or a novel I've read, yet the first and (sometimes only) response from even my freedom-loving friends will be a political discussion about how that particular work is promoting propaganda for the Bush administration or some such.
I even find myself still doing this at times, although thankfully not very much. As an anarchist, I've rejected the concept of governmental validity in general, but I firmly believe that the next step in true living is to free my thoughts from all political influence. I certainly don't want to think about art primarily in terms of politics, and there is a point where even moral reactions and indignation against the admitted injustices of the current system are useless, and detrimental to my personal pursuit of freedom and happiness.
And herein lies the problem. I do derive a sort of perverse pleasure from reading the news of the day, cataloguing the idiocies of both conservatism and leftists, and discussing some of these things with my liberty-loving friends. I still also believe that being informed and conversant about the news of the day might also be of some practical value (though not as much as I was always taught to believe) in aiding me in my goals.
So, there will be some tension in my life as I continue to seek ataraxia. I can only hope that as I and my friends move further down the road of freedom and personal happiness that we can increasingly distance ourselves from every aspect of the political.
Oh, my.
What a meaty post—and it touches on many issues/ideas I’ve been thinking about quite a bit of late. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, my friend!
One thing that has been enormously challenging for me throughout my life is attempting to discover my “true purpose”. Needless to say, that makes fulfilling it quite challenging. This is sometimes exquisitely frustrating for me, but I think I’m approaching some sort of peace. “What I truly want” is easier—at least on some levels—although still not simple to achieve in some respects. Some things that I want seem to stand in opposition to others ...
It is very challenging to completely drop out of society. Being up on current events gives us a connection with others, even those with whom we’re close. I think it also provides some kind of validation that we’re investing our time positively, when we can discuss news stories with others we value. But doing so can disturb one’s mental calm and/or focus. After a few years of being paid to be a news hound, I am just now to the point where I can look at the headlines and teases on Google news and not feel a need to catch up on all the “genuine” news items. What I try to focus on are things that will directly affect my ability to live freely and raise my children as I think best; essentially I look for damage ahead and try to see a way around it.
Arrrgh, I’m rambling already. Thank you for the deeply stimulating entry.