Sermon for 3 November 2002, 1st Unitarian Church of Alton,, Illinois

INSIGHTS FROM EPICURUS
Ronald J. Glossop

I. Introduction

A. Our unusual topic for today is "Insights from Epicurus."
1. Why do I say that this is an unusual topic for a Sunday service? Because Epicurus is a mechanistic materialistic anti-supernaturalistic philosopher who had absolutely no use for traditional religion. His philosophy has sometimes been summarized as "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die."

2. In fact, it was not easy to find readings or hymns in our hymnal which would be appropriate to this topic.
3. Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher who came from Asia Minor to Athens at the age of 35 in 306 B.C., almost 100 years after Socrates had been condemned to die by drinking hemlock for "corrupting the youth" and "teaching foreign divinities."
4. The "Garden of Epicurus" was one of the four philosophical schools of ancient Athens, the others being Plato's Academy, the Lyceum of Aristotle, and the Stoic "painted porch" established by Zeno, from Citium on the island of Cyprus.
B. A keen rivalry developed between the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans focused on having a pleasant life for oneself, on avoiding the stress of getting involved in the many problems of the larger society, and on firmly opposing religion and all kinds of supernaturalistic views. In contrast, the Stoics focused on being virtuous and self-disciplined in order to overcome temptations, on doing one's duty to humanity with no complaints or thought of personal reward, and on reinterpreting traditional religious ideas so that they would better conform to reason and experience.
C. Oddly enough, both of these philosophies claimed that only the material world existed. Neither group believed in life-after-death. But the Epicureans adopted a mechanistic atomistic view of nature while the Stoics adopted the view that nature was more like a living organism ordered purposefully in such a way as to maintain its existence.

II. The first insight from Epicurus on which I wish to focus is the notion that nature is totally indifferent to the welfare of humans, to our pleasure or pain, so we must take care of ourselves. There is no "big daddy" or "big mommy" (or other divine beings) in the sky who will take care of us or even be cognizant of our situations. We need to be adults, not children depending on the assistance of some higher being or beings.
A. The universe consists of atoms in mechanical motion. The atoms (comparable to what today we would call "molecules") move in accord with the laws of nature. One thing follows another with no purpose involved. The world is a big machine unthinkingly producing event after event.
B. Even if there are immortal gods and goddesses, they would have no concern about the lives of pathetic ephemeral humans. Also there is no evidence that people who are virtuous, however one uses that term, are better off than those who are not.
C. The argument against the existence of a Providential God attributed to Epicurus goes like this: "Either God would remove evil out of this world, and cannot; or He can, and will not; or He has not the power nor will; or lastly, He has both the power and will. If He has the will and not the power, this shows weakness, which is contrary to the nature of God. If He has the power and not the will, it is malevolence, and this is no less contrary to His nature. If He is neither able nor willing, He is both impotent and malevolent and consequently cannot be God. If He is both willing and able (which alone is consonant with the nature of God), whence comes evil, or why does He not prevent it?" Epicurus seems to have been one of the first to raise this Problem of Evil.
D. Since nature is indifferent to our welfare, we must take care of ourselves. There also are no supernatural forces to take care of us. We're on our own in an amoral universe.

III. The second insight from Epicurus on which I wish to focus is the notion that there is no reason to fear death.
A. Having experiences depends on being alive. After death, we have no experiences of any kind. Thus after death there can be no pain or pleasure.
B. A practical advantage of adopting the materialistic view of the universe is that it provides a basis for ignoring all threats from religious enthusiasts about what might happen after you die. Being told that "You will go to hell if you do that" is no longer a threat to take seriously. Of course, there is also the issue of where hell could be even if it does exist.
C. The view that persons have some kind of immaterial, immortal soul is contrary to our actual experience of the world.
1. First, all that exists in the whole universe are material atoms and the void in which they move around. In order to exist the mind or soul also must have a physical basis composed of atoms. When the relations between those soul atoms cease to exist, then the mind or soul which depends on those relations also must cease to exist even though the separate atoms continue to exist.
2. If there were an immaterial soul, how could it be influenced by what is happening in the physical world? How could a totally non-material thing cause movements in the physical body? The "soul" must refer to a collection of physical soul atoms in the body which can interact with the physical body.
3. If we observe how people die, we note that in some cases they do not die all at once but a bit at a time. They lose some of their capabilities to sense their surroundings and some of their capabilities to move their bodies. If there were a single immaterial soul that leaves the body all at once, such gradual loss of mental capabilities and dying would not be possible.
4. We know of cases where people suffer brain damage or nerve damage from an injury or a stroke. The result is that some mental capabilities are lost. If damaging part of the brain destroys some of the mental capabilities, it seems logical to believe that destroying the whole brain and nervous system will also destroy all mental capabilities.
5. The mind or soul depends on the body, and not the other way around. Whenever some being has a mind, we observe that there is a brain on which the mind depends. On the other hand, who has ever experienced a disembodied mind without a physical brain on which it depends?
D. If one thinks about it, it is evident that funerals and decorating grave sites and the like are activities done for those who are still living, not for the person who has died--since that person no longer has any awareness of what is happening.
E. Death must be something like going to sleep and not waking up, not having any more experiences. Is that something to fear?
F. If one thinks about it, people cannot have any kind of "experience" of what happens after their death. Every person's own experience is one of "eternal life," the life which they have experienced.
G. What we need to do is to live our lives so that when death comes we can say that we have lived as well as we could. As Epicurus puts it, ". . . We will leave life crying aloud in a glorious triumph-song that we have lived well."

IV. The third insight from Epicurus on which I wish to focus is the notion that we should seek a pleasant life in the long run and not just for the next short period of time.
A. Earlier I noted how the philosophy of Epicurus has been summarized as "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die." This statement is NOT a fair representation of what Epicurus taught. He did advocate egoistic hedonism or the pursuit of one's own person pleasure, but he emphasized the need to consider one's whole lifetime, not just the next hour, the next day, the next month, or the next decade. The aim is to maximize the amount of pleasure and minimize the amount of pain and frustration during one's whole life.
B. The prudent person knows that intense physical pleasures are brief while mental pleasures such as friendship and understanding how the world works are enduring.

B. He recommends learning how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life like a beautiful sunset or sunshine on a warm day. If you learn how to enjoy a drink of cool water, you don't need expensive wine. If you can enjoy simple fruits and vegetables, you won't need exotic foods or expensive seasonings.
C. Among the pleasant things praised by Epicurus are friends and discussing philosophy.