Question put forth, what is it? Is it set in stone, concrete? Something that cannot be changed? Black and white? Are there gray areas? Is it something personal or something societal? Why do one person's most cherished virtues not mean anything in another? Why are some people so lacking in introspection that they don't, seemingly, have any set of virtues? Or why might they have a firm set of virtues for dealing with their public life, yet have none concerning their private life?
I know what my virtues are, and I try my best to live my life by them. What I don't understand are those who seem to have no virtues. To me, it seems that, if you can't define who you are by rules you choose to accept (free will being a vital component), then your life has no meaning. After all, life has no meaning beyond that which we grant it. If we dedicate our lives to service, God, and our fellow man, then therein lies our reason for life. But if we dedicate ourselves to nothing, or to self pleasure, then what is your purpose? One of pure Epicureanism?
I simply do not understand those who haven't chosen to define themselves, not to prove to others who they are, but rather simply to understand themselves at a most basic and fundamental level.
A debased Epicureanism is one in which the only pleasures that matter are the sensual ones; Epicurus himself counted friendship and simple foods, intellectual exploration and music among the truest pleasures.
ReplyDeleteAnd no politics: "Try to live obscurely."