Epicurus was an Ancient Greek born in 341 BC.

What made him famous was that he spent all his life trying to work out the largest puzzle there is:

what makes people happy?

Philosophers before him had discussed at length what could make people good

Epicurus preferred to look at what is fun

Unfortunately, the world was bitter and bitchy even then

and when people heard that Epicurus had set up a school to study happiness

the rumors went off the scale

There were tales that the school hosted ten course feasts, and orgies every night

Epicurus was said, by one critic, to have orgasmed 18 times in a single evening in a bed full of virgins

It wasn't true

Epicurus and his team were studying happiness, but they were doing it very soberly

The philosopher owned only two cloaks, and lived on bread, olives, and for a treat, an occasional slice of cheese

As for the bedroom, he merely responded demurely that he'd married philosophy

Having patiently studied happiness for many years

Epicurus came to a set of remarkable and revolutionary conclusions about what we actually need to be happy

He proposed that we typically make 3 mistakes when thinking about happiness:

Firstly, we think happiness means having romantic, sexual relationships

but Epicurus looked around and saw so many unhappy couples

their unions marred by jealousy, misunderstanding, cheating, and bitterness

at the same time, he observed how much nicer friendships are:

How people tend to be so decent and unpossessive with their friends

Friendship seemed to be where human nature was at its sweetest

The only problem Epicurus noted was that we don't see our friends enough

The next thing we ordinary think that we need to be happy is a lot of money

but we tend not properly to factually the unbelievable sacraficies we gotta have to make to get this money:

The jealousy, the backbiting, the long hours

What makes work really satisfying, Epicurus believed, ins't money

but it was able to work alone, or in small groups, like in a bakery, or boat repair shop

and when we feel we helping others

in our own, minor way improving the world

Isn't really large sums or status

that we want deep down

Its a sense of making a diference

and lastely

Epicurus observes how obsessive we are with luxury

especially involving houses and beautiful serene locations

but beneath our love of luxury there is really something else we trying to get out

What we want is a feeling of calm

We want our minds pure, free...

Not full of the normal boredom and chaos

But the great question is: Does luxury actually make us calm?

Epicurus wasn't so sure...

Having looked happiness in depth

Epicurus anounces a revolution reset of insights

That we really need only three things to be happy in this life

Firstly

You need your friends around

No sex, no orgy, just your mates

Enough of seen them only now and then

Its regularity of contact that counts

So he did that thing that most of us ocasionally dream of doing

but never actualy get around do

He bought a big house and start living with all his friends

Everyone had your own quarters and there was pleasant share areas too

There's always someone nice to talk to you in the kitchen

Secondly

Everyone downshifted

All the members of the comune stop working for other people

They took big pay cuts in return for doing their own stuff

some farming, some cooking, some potring or writing

And thirdly

Epicurus and his friends stop thinking you could be calm just by having a beautiful view to look out to

They devote themselfes to finding calm in their own minds

To spending time on their own, reflecting, writing stuff down, reading things, meditating

The experiment was so successful, the members of the comune so happy

the idea spread like wildfire

Epicurean communities open up all around the mediterranean

at height of the movement

there was four hundred thousand people living in comunes from Spain to Palestine

It was only the christian church that ending things in the fifth century

But in most of the respect to the community somehow

cause they converted all in to monasteries

what we know as monasteries are really just epicurean comunes

with a christian top soil

Another interesting fact: Karl Marx it's Ph.D thesis on Epicurus

and what we call communism, a gigantic

failed system

it's really a grown up, corrupted, not very successful version of epicureanism

The real Legacy of Epicurus is that human beings aren't very good make themselves happy

especially because they think it's so easy

We think we know, it's about sex, money, luxury

We just want to how to secure all this

but no, says Epicurus

Reflect on the moments that truly bring you happiness

and they are to do with this

Have the courage to change your life, in accordance with the moments that actually delivery satisfaction

You might end up living in a very different way

Out in the country with just some cheese, a couple of clothes, a few philosophy books and

some very good friends down the corridor