Ok, I get it. Christmas is a Christian reinvention of various pagan religious festivals. Our modern version runs on Victorian-designed rails. None of it is particularly… Ancient Greek.
Epicurus, on the other hand, was an ancient Greek (i.e. a little before the Victorians, Christianity, or the Roman Empire for that matter).
So, it makes little sense to imagine Epicurus pulling at Christmas crackers or wearing a colourful paper crown.
But he does have much to tell us about the nature of pleasure, and how it might best be gained on Christmas day. So, let’s see how Epicurus, the founder of Hedonism, would approach our day of greatest Hedonistic abandon.
Hedonism and the Christmas Turkey
We know hedonism as one thing: the pursuit of pleasure. Perhaps, the abandonment to pleasure. The desperate, gluttonous romp through culinary and carnal delights.
We hear the word “hedonism” and think of that first sherry with mince-pie at 9am on Christmas morning. We think of turkey smothered in gravy. Of crunchy, salty potatoes oozing with goose fat. Of a crisp white wine cutting through the grease of Christmas lunch like an intoxicating panacea.
We think of corpulent gluttony and drunken excitement. We think, in short, of everything that Epicurus was against.
Hedonism
Pursuit of Pleasure and the avoidance of Pain
Hedonism is the rational pursuit of pleasure. But pleasure, when properly understood, is not like it has been described above. In order to capture the full effects of pleasure and pain, we need to see the whole effects of our actions, not just the immediate ones.
Yes – the Christmas roast is delicious, but at some point, the deliciousness turns to queasy disgust and congealed sweat sticking thickly to our forehead like winter-morning condensation. And most of all, the bodily regret that is indigestion. At some point, the hedonic calculation shifts, and you wish you had chosen your portion size a little differently.
Epicurus’ distinction between the pleasures
Epicurus argued that there were two kinds of pleasure, and that they are not equally desirable.
Biography of Epicurus
Epicurus (341-270 BCE) was a Greek philosopher who founded a school of philosophy known as Epicureanism. He believed that the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain were the key to a happy life, but not in a hedonistic sense. Rather, he emphasised simple pleasures, like friendship, freedom, and intellectual pursuits, and rejected materialism and excess in favour of a virtuous, tranquil life. Epicurean philosophy was influential in ancient Greece and Rome, and his teachings continue to be studied and debated today.
The two types of pleasure are active and static. The first is the kind we get from consumption. From going after and getting rewards. The second is more closely associated with satisfaction.
Epicurus thought that there was no central, unfeeling state. We are always feeling either pleasure or pain. And the absence of pain is a kind of pleasure. So, what we want, is the kind of pleasure that remains, that lingers and endures.
Active Pleasure
Pleasure gained from acquiring more and more
Passive Pleasure
Pleasure that is achievable and remains constant
Active pleasure is transitory – it’s the taste of turkey or the increase in drunkenness. But it goes as fast as it arrives, and we must seek more. Static pleasure is not like that. It remains and endures.
As John Sellars writes in The Fourfold Remedy: Epicurus and the Art of Happiness: “The goal is pleasure, but it is not more and more active pleasure; it is reaching a state of static pleasure, of contentment. It’s not the pleasure of eating, it’s the contentment of not being hungry.”
What to aim for on Christmas Day
It would be a mistake, says Epicurus, to aim for active pleasure. Because there is always more to gain, and eventually, to lose. If we over-indulge in food and wine, we will give ourselves indigestion. Better, says Epicurus, to aim for the static pleasures: The pleasure of being full, or having good relationships with family and friends is easier to attain and more desirable. The pleasure of a contented life is nature’s gift and can be embraced.
Here is John Sellars again: “Active pleasures can vary in quantity – you can always eat more and more. But the state of contentment you reach when you are full and no longer hungry cannot vary at all. Once you are full, you are full, and if you keep eating you won’t become even more ‘not hungry’. You won’t add any further static pleasure. Indeed, you’ll probably end up with indigestion, generating pain rather than more pleasure. So there’s a clear limit to the pursuit of pleasure, Epicurus thought.”
Epicurus himself thought that the pleasures of good friendships and thoughtful discussions were the stuff of a good life. That we ought not to aim for hedonistic abandon, but instead for a simple tranquillity.
As Epicurus put it, “nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little.”
It is by desiring only those things that nature can provide most easily – a simple meal and pleasant company – can we truly find happiness. On Christmas day, Epicurus would seek out his friends and family. He wouldn’t make a fuss about lunch. He wouldn’t focus on gaining more and imbibing endlessly. He would stop. He would look around. He’d appreciate the goods of his little community.
He would, in a word, be content.
