05.09.13
Posted in Enjoying your life at 9:49 pm by rhanrott
Anxiety is worse than bodily pain. Present suffering soon passes; anxiety lasts a long time.
(Epicurus)
And pharmaceuticals merely mask it. Moreover, for many the withdrawal symptoms are as bad as the malady.
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05.08.13
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:08 am by rhanrott
There are an estimated 26,000 (yes, you have read it correctly) sexual assault incidents every year in the American military. Of this number only 3374 are actually reported, and a tiny 238 result in prosecution. And the prosecution is under the control, not of trained legal people, but of commanding officers. In others words every female is fair game. It represents the triumph of crude power over decency. So far nothing is being done about it.
Epicurus was the first person in recorded history to assert the equality of the sexes (and welcomed slaves and freed slaves in his philosophical garden as well). All modern Epicureans should support freedom from assault for women and the expulsion from any organisation whatsoever of anyone guilty of misusing his authority.
Setting aside violent assault, which is disgusting, what amazes me personally is why some men continue to grope women in such a vulgar and uncivilized manner. It is much more fun and infinitely more rewarding to use charm, affection and subtle persuasion. But I suppose that takes too long? Crudity and insensitivity seem to be normal for too many.
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05.05.13
Posted in The way we live now at 6:55 am by rhanrott
Think about it. US Colleges and universities have invested in fixed assets, whether in sports arenas or science labs, to a huge degree in the last 20 years in order to compete with one another. Fees have rocketed, leaving graduates with staggering debts. Yes, they are more likely to get jobs than non-graduates, but many have to live with parents and postpone things like marriage or home buying and will live with debt for many years.
Meanwhile income for the middle class has stagnated and in some cases gone down. How will parents be able to fund education of their children in this case? With increasing difficulty.
Thus you have a situation where a smaller number of people will be pursuing a college route they can’t afford. At some point the bubble has to burst. There are simply fewer and fewer people able or willing to pay the outrageous fees demanded by American universities. If and when more people give up and raise their hands in despair, colleges all over the country will go bankrupt, because their buildings and facilities cannot be used for anything else. The elite universities will continue to do well. The more obscure will not. Add to this the threat of on-line courses, which mean that elaborate dorms and classrooms, along with teaching staff could become redundant, and you have a perfect, self-induced storm. And this has been “organized” by some of the finest brains in the country, many of whom have business schools on their doorsteps! Ever heard of business strategy, chaps? So far no one has found a way to make an on-line degree credible to employers. So far.
This issue is important to followers of Epicurus, for whom knowledge and the ability to think for yourself and discuss issues in an informed and logical way was vital for the good life.
Moreover, the trend towards elite education for only the financial elite offends everything he stood for. Recall that he welcomed all civilised, thoughtful people into his Garden, regardless of income, race or gender. This was revolutionary in his era.
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05.01.13
Posted in The way we live now at 6:05 am by rhanrott
When I ran a commercial company I insisted that all complaints, however minor, came over my desk. I phoned customers personally and addressed their concerns, thanking them for helping us to be better suppliers. It worked like magic. Over a period of time complaints dropped to about one every two months.
In America company executives hide anonymously behind customer service staff. You have to be sneaky and visit the “investor” section of their websites to even find the names of the top bosses. No phone numbers, no email.
Today I wanted to lodge a complaint about the management of a gym, owned by a large corporation. It’s a total waste of time complaining to underlings. I asked the customer service lady the name and extension number of the general manager. She didn’t know it. I asked her for his name. She didn’t know it. I said, “So you don’t know who you work for?” She giggled.
This is outrageous on several levels. All chief executives should have their fingers on the pulse of their customers. But do they care? Is the annual bonus all they think about?
A good and wise Epicurean looks after his customers so that his customers look after him. He gets back to them. He expresses concern. He gets errors corrected. Customers represent his bread and his butter and his future income. American executives have forgotten this. The result will be witnessed in the coming years. During my time at business school the issue of customer service never came up. Time it did.
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04.30.13
Posted in Happiness, The way we live now at 7:09 am by rhanrott
“It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time”. Dr. Johnson
This is a paraphrase of a famous saying of Epicurus, but important nonetheless. How have you lived? With love and kindness for friends, family or community, or resentfully like a curmudgeon? How honest have you really been? How selfish and thoughtless?
How careful of the environment? How generous to good causes and people less fortunate than yourself? Are you able to see yourself as others see you? If so, what is the fair verdict?
These are just a few of the questions a thoughtful, self-reflective person will ask. Epicureans must surely ask them, and resolve to improve where improvement is needed.
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04.29.13
Posted in Enjoying your life, The way we live now at 7:18 am by rhanrott
New research by the UK children’s watchdog has suggested that almost every 14-year-old boy in the country has watched pornography. The Children’s Commissioner found that in one local authority in England, 100% of 14 year olds and 50% of girls – admitted to having watched porn. The study, which has not yet been published, also found evidence that children as young as 11 had been actively “seeking out pornography”. (The Guardian).
The sooner children realize that pornography is mind-bendingly boring the sooner they will get on with something useful, like school work and preparing themselves for real life. I believe they imbibe the idea of close, loving relationships from real people close to them, not from the Internet. So let them satisfy their curiosity like all previous generations.
Epicurus believed in pleasure as a prime objective for us all (although I doubt he had this particular activity in mind). So if people find watching this mechanical, soul-less, repetitive stuff of more than passing interest, then I suppose one can’t stop them. But there are better things to do with your spare time. Incidentally, pornography comes in a variety of guises – extreme, violent video games are simply another form of the same thing.
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04.28.13
Posted in Happiness, The way we live now at 7:12 am by rhanrott
We can all agree with the gun lobby that we need to concentrate on identifying, and then treating, those with mental affliction or disease.
Unfortunately, the old means of dealing with such people (in mental hospitals under the supervision of trained staff) was abolished under Reagan-Thatcher to save money. Now the Republicans have, or should have a dilemma. You cannot safeguard the public properly from the crazies without spending money on treatment, people trained in rehabilitation and, in extreme cases, premises where the severely ill can be cared for in a safe environment. The mentally ill and the homeless, dumped on the street, have no money to pay for treatment. So this means raising taxes or paying higher healthcare premiums. Either way, the cost would filter through to the public.
Ouch!
So this common sense approach will go nowhere. The thickness of the wallet will always be preferred to the vague chance of being killed by a madman. Nearly 30,000 people a year will continue to die of gunshot wounds every year in the US, a large proportion being suicides. Many of those involved could be saved if they were identified and treated. Hypocrisy rules in a country supposed to be majority Christian.
Intelligent Epicureans (all Epicureans are intelligent!) will be glad to pay a bit more in tax if they know they will be safe themselves and that vulnerable and sick people are in a safe place, being looked after and treated. That is the decent and moral approach that saves lives and allows people to recover and regain their dignity.
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04.27.13
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:33 am by rhanrott
Why do the greedy want to amass even greater fortunes? A huge amount of money cannot bring happiness. You would spend your whole life protecting what you have, nervously watching the stock-market, harbouring suspicions about every tradesman, supplier, accountant and lawyer.
You cannot spend all your wealth, even given three lifetimes. What then are you doing it for? To leave to your children? It will do them no good at all. To give to charity? Great idea, but imagine the daily deluge of begging letters and phone calls? Or are you doing it as an entry ticket to new friendships or social circles? In which case you are seriously deluded. The world is well supplied with fair weather friends.
Epictetus was right. Epicurus agreed.
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04.26.13
Posted in Enjoying your life, The way we live now at 6:38 am by rhanrott
Epicureans thought politics was a needless cause of stress and anxiety. The masses are incurably deluded, and the powerful are incurably corrupt, so it’s best to withdraw from the state, set up your own philosophical commune, and pursue the good life privately. Some Epicureans did attempt some outreach, though. Diogenes of Oeneanda paid for a large wall to be erected outside his city, inscribed with Epicurus’ teachings, to spread the word of his philosophy. (Quoting from the website philosophy for life.org).
The problem we face is that the scope of politics in Ancient Greece was rather limited. You could feasibly ignore it, unless a war visited your doorstep. The size and reach of government in modern times is quite different. Government is useful and important and has improved the lives of most people. But it’s reach is such that you simply cannot ignore it. The good that it can do can easily be reversed by those with different ideologies.
If everyone ignored politics then the bad actors would hold the stage unimpeded, like Hitler or Stalin. This is the dilemma facing Epicureans. It suited politicians like Margaret Thatcher to have a supine public, whom she viscerally loathed. Had people stood up to her the dire changes in the UK, some of which were necessary, would have been more moderate.
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04.25.13
Posted in Enjoying your life at 6:09 am by rhanrott
Hinduism accepts the right to die for those with terminal diseases or those who have no desire, ambition or no responsibilities remaining; and allows death through the non-violent practice of fasting to the point of starvation (Prayopavesa). Jainism has a similar practice named Santhara. In the Catholic faith, suicide is considered a grave sin, and it has been the influence of Catholicism that has prevented many rational people from ending their lives when they want to, not when some Catholic lobby deems it right.
It should be a human right to end your life when you want you want to. It is your life. When it comes down to it probably most people funk it, such is the human desire to live. But for the others, why should they be dictated to by anyone else. What business is it of the church? For those of us who are rather dubious of the existence of a bearded old gentleman somewhere in the sky (a man, of course), who judges your life and finds you guilty, this is control freakery. Epicurus would have none of it. Stand up for the ultimate liberty – the decision about your own life and its ending!
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