An Epicurus Jam

For there is nothing fearful in life for one who has grasped that there is nothing fearful in the absence of life.  Thus, he is a fool who says that he fears death not because it will be painful when present but because it is painful when it is still to come.  For that which while present causes no distress causes unnecessary pain when merely anticipated.

-Epicurus (341-270 BCE)

I concur.  The belief that death is anathema to life is untrue, albeit understandable.  Most people enjoy the experience of living.  Typically mundane tasks seem venerable when the idea of death looms about.

But life and death are not mutual entities.  Far from it.  They each exist because of the other.  Without life, death would have no identity, and vice versa.  The relationship that the two phenomenon share is one of dependency.  To be afraid of death is disrupts one’s experience of life.  In the above quote, Epicurus describes the vexation of death from its anticipation, causing “unnecessary pain.”

To assume that one should treat death (thought of here as a permanent termination of consciousness) as an illusive, yet inevitable, chimera really misses the point.  Unnatural fear only serves to disrupt one’s perception.  All experiences become clouded in the assumption that death is inherently bad.  It isn’t.  And just as Epicurus writes, it should not be painful for us in life.

Daily Rumination

From the book A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter.

One must have heroes, which is to say, one must create them.  And they become real through majesty, their power, which we ourselves could never possess.  And in turn, they give some back.  But they are mortal, these heroes, just as we are.

I just finished A Sport and a Pastime and I very much liked it.  It is by far the best written erotic novel I’ve read.  In my experience, sexual material can often be pretentious, sometimes to the point of writhing while reading during the more amorous parts.  But Salter avoided this for the most part; presenting a realistic story of demonstrative lust.

New Piece

My latest is now up. I look at the importance of uncertainty when it comes to examining death, as opposed to conjuring elaborate and detailed finalities.

A taste:

In more primitive years, it was thought that stars were tiny windows looking into Heaven. That rain was poured upon from some celestial damn. We now know that stars are not windows, but giant consolidations of gas. Rain does not come from the heavens, but from clouds, products of the Earth’s atmosphere. As with the phenomenon of death, individuals attempted to create a reality when actual, true reality was lacking.

Doubt should be welcomed, for it allows individuals to debate, think, and reason with whatever force that compels such doubt in the first place. Doubt begets thought. Thought begets intellectual growth, which, in turn begets human development.

Stamping Your Name On Uncertainty

For the past seven months, I have nestled into the warm cultural mediocrity of Northern Virginia, cloistered in the childhood bedroom of my parents house, awaiting to pounce upon the next step of life with the zeal of a whack-a-mole player.  Furthermore, I’ve returned to the manically-paced retail position that I swore I would never return to, where I’ve rekindled my flirtations with cigarettes and night caps.

Remaining stationary on the sidelines while the lives of my friends and family progress has been frustrating, and at times rather dejecting: I’m twenty-six years old with no career prospects, no house, no children, no wife, and I’ve even managed to strike car-ownership from the list of responsibilities expected of modern adults in an industrialized nation.

It all seems rather grim.

Yet, I must remind myself of my recent desire to explore the positive attributes in any situation.  Perhaps there is something liberating in having virtually no responsibilities and materials to occupy me.  Perhaps this recent bout of self-absorbed melancholy can be alleviated by considering that my life is rather open, and the scope of possibility exceeds that of others who are less fortunate and lucky as I.  Perhaps my sanguineness need not go the way of the S&P 500.

A Musing: Happiness

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”

–Aristotle

I’ve thought a good deal of late about attitude and self-determination.  I’m certainly not a stalwart for “The Secret” and the various idealogical derivitives it’s kindled.  However, I find one’s perception of reality, something much important to the best-selling book and DVD, to be a vital determination of one’s happiness.  I think that our attitude is a choice.

Whereas circumstances are meted with singular adjudication, our response is entirely within the grasps of our control.  It’s not the situation that affects us; it’s our reaction to the situation that affords the emotional investment with which we respond.

It may be corny, perhaps whimsically trite, but there is something to be said for the above quote from Aristotle.  Not permitting situations and people to determine our happiness is not simply fodder for the spritely ignorant or self-help-obsessed.  In fact, I consider the whole idea to be completely logical; its affirmation only achieved after mitigating any initial negative responses to any one dismissive thing that may happen to us.  Curse words and yelling may be our first utterances, but these are normal responses to displeasing events, and I have no beef with their place in the world.

But what happens afterwards seems to be the most important part.  Allowing any situation to rule the day cedes power and dominance from you.  It’s rather pacifistic, really: letting another force (i.e. negative emotions) rule you.  Whether it’s binges of melancholy or a perpetual chip that never leaves our shoulder, our responses to life largely determines how pleasing it is.