Plan of Life Following Epicurus

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As with any other plan, a plan of life is made to accomplish many goals or possibly just one significant goal. In the case of this plan of life, the goal is happiness in terms of tranquility. It consists of the most significant goals and practices inspired by Epicurus and Epicureanism.

1. Act. Do. Take care of and do those things which produce happiness. Be active not passive. Realize that doing is everything. Happiness is not something that happens to us but something we choose and do. Choose happiness. Do happiness.

2. Practice day and night. The good life is a full-time practice. Why would anyone wish to take time off from happiness?

3. Exercise by yourself and with others who are like-minded. Resolve to practice when alone. Find strength in others who are similarly committed to the good life. Beware of those who are not: “Disregard those who are ignorant of what makes tranquility possible or what prevents it.”

4. Desire well; practice desire reduction.For the greatest happiness, limit yourself to the satisfaction of natural and necessary desires. Avoid satisfying those desires that are unnatural and unnecessary, those that originate in groundless notions. Mind the measure of pleasure. “The standard measure for the greatest amount of pleasure is the removal of every pain. Whenever pleasure is present, as long as it lasts, there is neither pain nor distress nor both together.”

5. Endure pain. When necessary, put up with pain in order to avoid further or other pain and to experience greater pleasure, peace, and happiness.

6. Strive for self-sufficiency. Be satisfied with little. Pursue simple pleasures. Get used to basic and inexpensive foods and other things. Drink water. “A barley cake and water offer the highest possible pleasure when they are given to a hungry man.” Everything natural and beneficial is easy to get. Seek quality over quantity.

7. Practice friendship. Trust. Be giving and kind. Be grateful. Recall the good times and the beneficial conversations you have had with friends. Care for and advise one another.

8. Cultivate the virtues. Seek excellence. “The virtues have become one with living pleasantly, . . . [which] is inseparable from the virtues.” Live wisely. Be noble and just, moderate and courageous.

9. Seek knowledge and wisdom. Do philosophy in order to have a healthy soul and be happy. Keep in mind that all theoretical work is best oriented to practice—for the purpose of tranquility. Realize there is truly nothing to fear or worry about.

10. Know well. Practice careful sensation and deliberate judgment. Understand the criteria of truth (sensations, preconceptions, and feelings). Always follow the facts. Realize that some things are impossible to know (so do not force the matter; be content with what you are actually able to know). Many points must simply “await confirmation”—that is, await further information. There are levels of clarity, from single to multiple explanations. Do not accept arbitrary laws or empty assumptions.

11. Utilize epitomes. Begin with summaries and work toward the details of your philosophical system. The basic system should answer what and how we can know; what is real; and how we can be at peace (be happy). Simplicity sets the stage for complexity—the general for the specific.

12. Memorize, review, recall. Learn an elementary outline by heart. Return to it often. Keep in mind the principal points and use them as aids to practice and further understanding.