You can enjoy Epicurean seclusion only if you live in a time and place that permits such luxury and you are lucky enough to be able to afford it. This has never been true for most human beings, nor will it ever be. Where such retreats have existed they have been shelters for the few, and overrun in wars and revolutions. A more fundamental limitation of Epicurean philosophy is the spiritual poverty of the life it recommends. It is a neurasthenic vision of happiness. As in a convalescent hospital, no noise is allowed. Only a restful stillness remains. But then life is stilled, and much of its
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