“Let me tell you something of the ideas of Epicurus, a wise, ancient Greek thinker. He believed, as any rational person must, that there is no world to come and that we should spend our only life as peacefully and joyfully as possible. What is the purpose of life? His answer was that we should seek ataraxia, which might be translated as ‘tranquility,’ or as ‘freedom from emotional distress.’ He suggested that a wise man’s needs are few and easily satisfied, whereas people with implacable cravings for power or wealth, perhaps like your uncle, never attain ataraxia because cravings breed. The
...more
