Freedom, Friendship and Thought...

...... are the three things (along with modest food, clothing and shelter) that Epicurus told us we need in order to be truly happy in life. Concerning freedom, he wrote that "We must free ourselves from the prison of everyday affairs and politics." Personally, I have in fact been much happier since embracing anarchism and thus freeing myself from futile concern with the political minutiae spewed out of Washington and discussed on the Web on a daily basis. I shudder to the think of the opportunities I've missed and of people who didn't get the fullness of the attention they deserved from me, due to the focus I wasted on events I had no power to influence.

In his fine book The Consolations of Philosophy, Alain de Botton offers Epicurus' teaching on friends, freedom and thought as a consolation to those who do not have enough money. True enough, but I think that the greater benefit may be to folks such as myself who can afford most of our desired luxuries but are apt to lose focus due to the distractions they can provide.

Epicurus is perhaps the philsopher who has the most to say to us modern-day, freedom-seeking individualists. There is much to write about on this topic, and I plan to do much more of it on this wonderful blog, where freedom, friendship and thought can be expressed in abundance.