RULES FOR CHOOSING AND ACTING WELL
We already know the great variety of desires and pleasures associated with them. We have seen that some desires have their origin in our body while others are more typical of our mind. We have also classified desires according to whether they are natural or artificial. The natural ones can be necessary for our life or unnecessary. The artificial ones are all unnecessary. Finally, we have classified the pleasures according to their duration: brief and intense, some long and stable.
Among so much variety, how to choose our pleasures? What desires to try to satisfy and which others to ignore? Once chosen, what is the best way to achieve them? How to act to satisfy the desires that make us enjoy?
Epicurus offers us some general rules to choose what pleasures to seek and also to satisfy our desires in the best way.
When it comes to satisfying desires that are necessary for our life, it is clear that we must try to satisfy them. We cannot ignore or suppress them unless we do not want to live. For example, it is necessary to eat and rest. But are there better and worse ways to eat and rest? Epicurus thinks so: It is better to satisfy our needs in the simplest way possible.
If we need to quench our thirst, better with water than with a soda. Why? Because water is the easiest way to quench your thirst: it is cheaper and more accessible than soft drinks. If we get used to quenching our thirst by drinking soft drinks, when we can only drink water we will not feel the same pleasure as if we have become accustomed to drinking water. It is possible that we even feel disgusted, that we do not enjoy fresh water because we have become accustomed to soft drinks.
If we need to rest, it is again better to accustom our body to a simple mattress and pillow instead of accustoming it to more exclusive ones. In this way, when we have to sleep in other places, we will not be unhappy because we lack our most exclusive mattress and pillow.
Satisfying our most basic desires in a simple way has another advantage: when we can enjoy luxury or we will enjoy it more.
A second rule that Epicurus offers us is moderation: we must not go too far in satisfying natural desires. And this applies to both the most necessary and the least necessary natural desires:
If we feel hungry, we must eat. But we can eat some foods or others. The above recommendation for availability and simplicity applies perfectly here. But in addition to choosing simple and easily accessible foods, we must avoid overeating. If we get used to eating a lot, when we do not have an abundance of food we will feel that we lack food and we will be unhappy. On the contrary, if we get used to eating only what is necessary to calm our hunger, we will not feel pain or disgust when we have little food.
We must rest, but avoid sleeping excessively. Lack of moderation will lead us to suffer when we have to get up early. On the contrary, if we get used to getting up early, we will not suffer so much when we have to get up early.
If we enjoy playing with the console, it is better to do it in moderation. We won't always have the time or the place to do all the sport we want. Better to play with simple and available means (and not with an expensive controller or a last generation monitor), and also put a limit on the time of the game. If we get used to playing without moderation, then we will feel pain when we cannot dedicate all the time to which we have become accustomed.
As with the rule of availability, the rule of moderation has a second positive effect: we will enjoy more when we can dedicate ourselves more to those pleasures that we normally enjoy in moderation:
If we are used to eating little, we will enjoy the day of the banquets more when we can eat more.
If we are used to playing limit, we will enjoy vacation days more when we can play more.
Avoid momentary pleasures that later lead to unhappiness
Whenever we think of acting to achieve pleasure, we must ask ourselves about the consequences in the medium and long term. Not foreseeing the consequences of our actions is the cause of many unhappiness.
This rule applies to all kinds of pleasures:
The pleasure of eating sweets leads to tooth decay, diabetes and obesity.
The pleasure of sleeping on an excessively soft mattress brings back pain.
The pleasure of an afternoon without studying leads to worse results, recoveries and extra work.
Epicurus insists on reasoning before acting, weighing the pleasures and pains of our actions. Sometimes it is better not to satisfy a wish.
Accept some pain in exchange for greater happiness
It may seem a contradiction that the same person who affirms that happiness consists in enjoying life tells us that sometimes we must suffer some pain. But it is not about suffering without more, but about accepting some suffering in exchange for later obtaining greater pleasures, or avoiding greater evils:
We do the unpleasant task of cleaning our boots in exchange for the pleasure of a field trip.
We peel the potatoes to later enjoy a delicious omelette.
Better the pain of the shot of the vaccine than to suffer a long illness.
Better the pain of the dentist than having a terrible toothache.
Again, Epicurus insists us to reason before acting, weighing the pleasures and pains of our actions. Sometimes it is better to accept a pain or make a sacrifice.
Obtaining pleasure requires some action from us, for pleasures rarely come to us without effort. This effort can be physical (like when we go home shopping), mental (studying to pass an exam) or economic (saving). In exchange for this effort, we should try to get as much enjoyment as possible. Therefore, Epicurus advises us to strive for long-lasting pleasures, which bring us happiness for a long time, and avoid short-term pleasures even when they are intense. For instance:
Better to invest our money in some boots to enjoy the field many times than to spend that money bingeing on food or buying a series or a football game that we will enjoy one day.
Better to use our intelligence learning to play a musical instrument than to use it learning to win in a game: once we have won, we will not enjoy playing it again. Instead, we will enjoy every time we play our instrument.
Better to use our energy splitting firewood and then be warm for several days than to go out to ride a bicycle.
Be self-sufficient to preserve our freedom
Each of the previous rules or recommendations wants to help us choose well to achieve maximum happiness, which for Epicurus is the same as saying to achieve maximum enjoyment. The above rules assume that we can choose, that we are free to choose our actions. If we were not free, if we were forced, it would not make much sense to worry about choosing well. Whoever is a slave cannot choose what he wants to do and therefore cannot lead a happy life.
The importance of maintaining our freedom and trying to increase it in order to be able to choose better is the subject of this last recommendation. Being self-sufficient, not depending on anything or anyone, is for Epicurus a goal to try to achieve, because whoever does not depend on anything or anyone is maximally free.
Without going to the extreme of slavery, losing part of our freedom forces us to do or accept things that we do not enjoy. Many times, this loss of freedom, and the unhappiness that it brings, are not evident at first, even For example:
Who develops an addiction to a substance.
Who asks for a loan that later cannot pay.
Who only lives to get "likes".
It is not by chance that these examples are linked to artificial plates, completely unnecessary. The initial pleasure that some substances provoke, the enjoyment of luxurious objects, and the pleasure of fame are examples of unnatural, superfluous pleasures that often lead to unhappiness. Epicurus advises avoiding these pleasures precisely because of the lack of freedom that they usually bring, since they make us dependent on some substances, on who has lent us the money, on those who can give us and take away our fame.
WHAT DO WE NEED TO HAVE A HAPPY LIFE?
We can summarize all the tips to choose and act well and also make them more specific if we understand Epicurus' answer to what things are necessary to lead a happy life. They are not many, but they are not easy to reach:
Friendship . Human beings are social animals, and Epicurus considers friendship to be the most perfect social relationship: it provides enjoyment and help but does not restrict our freedom.
Freedom . Without freedom we cannot choose and when we can choose but are forced, the result is often pain and unhappiness.
Reflection . Applying our ability to reason we can choose the best pleasures and the best way to satisfy them.