Living Well
Epicurus’s program for attaining serenity boils down to “Forget about God, death, pain and acquisition, and your worries are over,” writes Joseph Epstein. But would such a detached life be worth living?
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“Forget about God, death, pain and acquisition, and your worries are over,” writes Joseph Epstein. “There you have it, Epicurus’ Four-Step Program to eliminate anxiety and attain serenity. I’ve not kitchen-tested it myself, but my guess is that, if one could bring it off, this program really would work. … But the real question is, even if it did work, would such utter detachment from life, from its large questions and daily dramas, constitute a life rich and complex enough to be worth living? Many people would say yes. I am myself not among them.”
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