The Garden of Epicurus

"Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. 

Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.” —Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus

At the centre of the Epicureanist philosophy we have atomistic combined by physics with rational hedonistic ethics that emphasizes moderation of desires and cultivation of friendships. The Epicurean world view is optimistic, claiming that philosophy can free us from death and the supernatural, while teaching us to find happiness in almost all situations. Epicureanism holds great significance in the development of Western intellectual thought and philosophy, its contemporary value is unquestionable. 

However, in an era devoid of ideology, timeless sayings have the tendency of losing their own intrinsic value, or worse, being embedded in the diluted pseudo knowledge that emerges with the age of post modernism. The very same thoughts that marked several ages of philosophic discovery and thought provoking reasoning, are now being used by your neighbour next door to fill the void brought by the lack of a clear ideology. The hedonistic mantra of the 21st Century, "be yourself", and all the zen qualities that feed the self worshipping of the modern day Peter Pans and Cinderellas, how quaint.

“The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity.” 

-Epicurus

Vanity indeed, is the driving force of the general stream of unoriginal thoughts by so called individuals that form the vast herds of sheeple that grace this beautiful Earth. 

It is of the utmost irony that the general flock feels original by imitating others. One would wonder if we have had scarcity of philsophers and thinkers, that, in a general way, and with their own differences, have always exalted the timeless, yet rare exercise of THINKING. 

“I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know.”
― Epicurus

Instead, we are bestowed with the pressing need of yet another post modern egotrip, "popularity", ah sweet, sweet nectar that fills our otherwise mundane and boorish lives of ceaseless repetition of thoughtless routine, how hard it is to escape from such chimera, to slay such Leviathan. Freedom of conscience and thought, so highly relished in this world, yet so rarely used. With all the cries for liberty in this world, the ultimate goal is, ironically, to submit to the will of the many, whether it is the State, peer pressure, social pressure, or the amalgam of our own insecurities.

“I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)”
― Epicurus

"Happiness", of course, do we know what we really desire? Is happiness a conformist category? The "pursuit of happiness", do we really want to get what we want? When we hold something, or even someone, as an object of desire, the amount of pleasure we get from it decreases as soon as we get what we want, new objectives and new desires appear before us, in truth, we do not really want what we think we want.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
― Epicurus