Get Rich Quick with Epicurus

The Dirtbag Dao is a simple living philosophy that pulls from other philosophies around the world and my own life experience as a minimalist nomad. There are many world philosophies to choose from, but Epicurus is my absolute favorite Western philosopher. He is earthy and practical, inclusive and straightforward. With no real controversies surviving history’s records, Epicurus comes across as simply a good guy. He’s the Tom Hanks of ancient Greek philosophers (please god, let this reference age well).

Epicurus’ philosophy will make you rich. You’ll have everything you want and be surrounded by things you love. Sometimes you may get a little extra above all this, and even though you don’t need, it, you will enjoy it even more than you would have before. You will transcend satisfaction. Sound good? Let’s get started.

Why should we care about philosophy?

Knowledge is something you possess. Wisdom is something you do.

~Eric Weiner, The Socrates Express

Wisdom is a muscle to be stretched, a skill to be learned and practiced. In the internet age, we are drowning in knowledge, but gasping for wisdom. So many people seek guidance, but outside an organized religion or spiritual practice, they may think they are only offered the materialistic veil of capitalism. But philosophy punches a light through that veil to question and dissect our reality and offer wisdoms for every stage of our lives.

Why is it important to understand our world and question our preconceived notions? In my opinion, it’s the only way to live an intentional life. Examination is the quickest roadmap to knowing what you actually want and pursuing it, and not laying on your deathbed wondering where time went and wishing you did something different.

Philosophy is intertwined with many different fields- politics, religion, science, and medicine, to name a few, and can help you develop critical thinking and understand different perspectives. Philosophy, the ‘love of wisdom,’ is both ancient and modern and will always be at the core of human progress.

You can read about all the teachings and philosophies of the world, but if you do not bring them into your life as action, they will be nothing but useless knowledge. Philosophy can give you the tools to apply knowledge through trial and gain real wisdom. There are many applications of philosophy, such as ethics, metaphysics, economics, and so on, but for Dirtbag Dao purposes, I like to focus on its relevance to understanding what makes a meaningful, happy life.

For those seeking happiness, most ancient philosophies work as medicine for the soul. They aim to treat anxiety, fear, doubt, grief, and other emotional suffering that keep us from everyday contentment. You can mix and match your medicines and practice the philosophies that speak to you in order to cure your suffering and become tranquil in your life.

Who was Epicurus?

Like almost every writing about Epicurus, we begin with a disclaimer. If you think you know Epicurus from pop culture or the popular gourmet cooking and shopping site, Epicurious.com, you have been led astray. Epicurus was technically a hedonist because he believed that pleasure was the highest good and what humans naturally live for, but his philosophy is so nuanced, it has little to do with the stereotypical hedonist, whom we might imagine feasting until they vomit or having outrageous orgies every day.

Rather, Epicurus distinguishes between different kinds of pleasure and argues for modest kinds that may benefit us in the long term. Epicurious.com is starkly in contrast to what Epicurus taught, and shame on them for distorting his good name, even if it is with a clever pun.

Born around 341 B.C. on the Greek island colony of Samos, Epicurus grew up on the heels of Plato and Aristotle. After studying philosophy and eventually teaching others, he moved to Athens and founded ‘The Garden,’ a co-living community space where Epicureans could gather. Those who lived at The Garden held friendship as the highest value, rejected the limelight that many other philosophy schools sought, and invited all to join, including women and slaves, which was exceptionally uncommon in Athens at the time.

Very little of Epicurus’ writing survived, thanks in part to Christians destroying his ‘ungodly’ works (that’s how you know something is good). But several letters share his worldview and one of his most adamant supporters, Lucretius, authored a six-book poem called ‘On the Nature of Things’ that outlines the core elements of Epicureanism.

Epicurean Pleasure

To an Epicurean, pleasure is not actually something to obtain, but in fact, an absence of anxiety. In ancient Greece, an internal sense of undisturbed calmness was called ataraxia. This state of tranquility is the ultimate (and only true) form of happiness and far surpasses the shallow pleasures of material gain.

You can have all the riches of the world, but if you are in mental or emotional pain, those pleasures will mean nothing to you. If you’ve studied Buddhism and this effort to free people from anxious suffering sounds familiar, well, let’s just say Epicurus and Buddha would probably enjoy a simple meal together.

Epicurus clarifies between two types of pleasure: fleeting and prudent. Fleeting pleasures are the domain of traditional hedonists, the feasts, orgies, etc. Prudent pleasures are those that will bring you contentment in the long term- educating yourself for self-improvement, exercising for better health, and making friends to build a community. Epicureanism leans heavily towards prudent pleasures because they are sustainable and lead to a state after satisfaction, where one has fulfilled their desires and no longer wants or needs anything, thus leading to ataraxia.

The Three Levels of Desire

Our pleasures stem from desires and pursuing that which we want. But as there are different types of pleasures, not all desires are created equal. Epicurus broke desires down into three categories:

Natural & Necessary

These are all the things humans need to survive, as well as some aspects of being human that are innate and built into us. I’ll call these simple desires.

They include (but are not limited to) the desire for:

Food
Water
Shelter
Good health
Social interactions
A community of trust
An understanding of the world we live in
The ability to learn life lessons

Epicurus believed that simple desires, especially with the help of family and/or friends, are easily fulfilled if they are made a priority. Once we learn to glean pleasure from simple desires, we are no longer swayed by the flashy and hollow prizes capitalism dangles in front of us.

The fact that these desires are achievable is what makes them so central to happiness. You can have enough of them -once you are full, you stop eating; once you are warm, you stop shivering; once you feel accepted, you belong- and feeling satisfied is what leads to tranquility. You can also feel satisfied in the pursuit of simple pleasures- the journey doesn’t necessarily have to end at a goal, but is enjoyable for its own sake.

Natural & Unnecessary

These are things we don’t need to have to live, but are nice to have. They are usually an expansion of our simple desires. We’ll refer to these as fancy desires.

These may include (but are not limited to):

Expensive food and drink
Luxury possessions
Consumption of media (social, TV, etc)

We tend to overvalue these and mistakenly think of them as necessary, even though we can be content without them. But they are also not meant to be shunned entirely, and if they are approached prudently, we can wring more enjoyment out of them as once-in-a-while luxuries. They become even more pleasurable when they are unexpected and shared with others, becoming treasured memories that would otherwise be taken for granted

Pursuing fancy desires regularly can create more discontentment because they are harder to get and cost more effort and resources to achieve than simple desires. The extra work to achieve them also creates higher pressure for them to be satisfying, making it more likely they will ultimately create more pain than pleasure in your life.

I find full pleasure in the body when I live on bread and water and I spit upon the pleasures of plush living not for their own account, but because of the discomfort that follows them.

~Epicurus

The discomfort Epicurus refers to may be a loss of time spent working for material possessions or wasted scrolling on your phone, alienation of loved ones in pursuit of a singular goal, or even as simple a thing as indigestion after a rich meal. Basically, following an abundance of fancy desires is more likely to lead to regret.

Unnatural & Unnecessary

These are wants beyond fancy desires that society has indoctrinated us into believing are good and signs of success. We can call them unhealthy desires.

These include (but are not limited to) the desire for:

Immense wealth and profit
Power
Fame
Eternal life

These kinds of desires are also overvalued and are even more dangerous than fancy desires because they are unlimited. You can never have enough money, fame, power, or life. And so, they take even more resources and effort and forgoing of the simple desires that actually do bring us tranquility.

Unhealthy desires are especially competitive and comparative, since there is never enough to go around, and so by their nature, they undercut values like generosity, trust, and community. Pursuing unhealthy desires for the sake of happiness is chasing a mirage that leads you further away from actual water.

They also inhibit our ability to be free. To achieve them, you have to climb a corporate ladder, appease the algorithm, appeal to voters. When you are beholden to a desire that cannot be fulfilled, you are no longer in control of your own life. In America, we have been told that excess is a sign of strength, when in fact it is a weight around our necks.

How to Follow the Desires that Make Your Life Full and Fun

How you categorize the desires in your life is personal to yourself. I offered examples of each level and that’s a good place to start, but to decide whether what you crave is simple, fancy, or unhealthy, you have to ask yourself if the benefit of the pleasure outweighs the cost of obtaining it and the answers will vary depending on the individual. For example, are you trading away your life to work for money in order to afford your dream home? What’s worth more to you? The life you could have had in that time or the house?

As you weigh the cost and benefits, you have to keep in mind a few things:

Do not confuse fancy desires with simple desires. Be honest with yourself: you do not need a glass of wine or to look fashionable. Remember, it’s okay to partake in luxury, but it’s an ultimate win if you can be satisfied with what you already have.

Don’t assume that getting what you want will be a good thing. This is a fallacy that is shoved down our throats by capitalism and American culture…. ‘If you buy this one last thing/reach this milestone/impress this person, then you’ll be happy!’ The reality is that, like a Hydra, each desire we fulfill only creates room for another one (or three) to pop out. Humans are insatiable and making sacrifices to achieve something only because we’ve been told we should will result in perpetual dissatisfaction.

On the flip side, don’t assume that not getting what you want will make you unhappy. Sometimes, missing out on something we thought we absolutely needed brings us greater long-term happiness than we ever could have planned out for ourselves. Often, it’s easy to forgot something we once wanted or get distracted by something else. The absence of a goal is also the absence of all the struggle it took to get there. As in the story of the Taoist farmer, we don’t actually know what might benefit our life the most in the long run.

The key is to not only avoid unhealthy desires, but to also to nurture the simple desires and fill life with them. When we focus on the more complex cravings, we take away time from the simple pleasures that do actually bring us happiness.

Luckily, Epicurus says that the actual good in life is easily attainable. Time with friends make up most of the greatest and memorable experiences of our lives. Rejecting the grind and hustle to stop and rest in the moment is one of the greatest things we can do for our health and autonomy. Simple food and drink is plentiful and cheap. Things to be grateful for can be found no matter what your life situation. As more of the West discovers breathwork (a long-touted Buddhist path to mindfulness), even the simple act of breathing can become one of joy and tranquility.

When we do enjoy fancy pleasures on occasion, the key to doing so in a productive way to a) not think yourself better for having them compared to those who do not and b) never get lulled into the sense that they are in fact, necessary for happiness.

Instead of envying those that society has deemed ultra-successful -whether through wealth, fame, or power- it’s important not to assume that their lives are automatically better. After all, to grasp at insatiable goals is to give up often those that may give your soul with meaning.

Defining success by having enough might seem too easy or unambitious. But truthfully, one can look around and see how many people are living anxious, unsatisfied, unintentional lives and understand that ‘settling’ for enough is not an easy task at all. The ability to succeed on Epicurean terms is within the grasp of many, yet held by few.

How to Die Well

Epicurus died a slow, painful death from kidney stones at the age of 71. However, up to his last breath, he was calm and tranquil about the end of his time. On his deathbed, he wrote a letter to a friend:

I wrote this to you on that blessed day of my life which was also the last. Strangury and dysentery had set in, with all the extreme intensity of which they are capable. But the joy in my soul at the memory of our past discussions was enough to counterbalance all this.

Epicurus taught that making positive memories was one of the most important things we could do, as they would sustain us when, at a point in our life, all we had left was memories. Hence, pleasure is not just something we live for in the moment or anticipate, but something to let linger within ourselves long after the original joy has passed.

Once you understand what enough is and appreciate every drop of it you have in your life, this not only leads to a more fulfilled life but a more fulfilled death. Epicureans won’t come to the end of their lives with unsatiated desires that they never got to see play out. They say you can’t take it with you, but perhaps the last thing you’ll be able to clutch as you leave this mortal coil is tranquility in your heart.

Keeping the Bar Low

If your life is full of traditionally acclaimed things and you’re wondering how to feel grateful for bread and water, Epicurus would prescribe you an examination by elimination. He examined everything in his life to understand what he could not have and still be happy. You won’t know what you don’t need until you try living without it.

This is similar to combating hedonic adaptation through voluntary discomfort, a Stoic technique for appreciating what you have. Except Epicurus would seek out what he could permanently remove to make his life simpler and less weighed down. Once you practice removing something that costs your energy, you may realize the cost is not worth it, and you can eliminate the thing entirely.

Restlessness, anxiety, and yearning can finally quiet when you become satisfied with what you already have. Actually getting what you want becomes much easier. Think, all your dreams can come true…if your dreams are shaped from the essential basics for living.

If you wish to make Pythocles wealthy, don’t give him more money; rather, reduce his desires.

~Epicurus

To an American, this may sound unambitious. But in fact, many things that pass as ambition in pursuit of power, wealth, or fame are like watching a dog chase his tail. Sure, he has a goal, motivation, and energy, and is working hard. But for what end?

Of course, ambitions can also lead to good things, for the world and for us. Epicurus’ toughest critics among ancient Roman philosophers considered his teachings cowardly and lazy, shying away from responsibility. He preached to stay out of politics and lived secluded away from Athenian society. However, in doing so he crafted a sustainable community of people who cared for each other and teachings that have been passed down for centuries. Epicurus is a philosophy for the hyper-local, affecting what you can within reach and not fretting about what you can’t control.

The idea of prudent pleasures allows for working for the greater good as a roadmap to happiness. However, as anyone who has worked as a teacher, nurse, for a non-profit, or other public service knows, it is often not a sustainable path in the long term. Finding happiness from simpler desires will bring tranquility after the burnout hits. Ultimately, it is always important to do the emotional math and decide whether the pain of action or inaction will sting more.

Why Should I Settle for Less?

Epicurus is the epitome of ‘less is more.’ Or more precisely, ‘less isn’t actually less, but you’ve been brainwashed into thinking bigger is better until the weight of more crushes you.”

Ultimately, this is all about what your priorities are. If you want to spend your time working to achieve fancy things, that is certainly your prerogative. Of course, Epicurus and many other philosophers will tell you that it’s a time-tested way to not be fully happy in the end.

Epicurus preached many things, including much I didn’t discuss here. You don’t have to agree with everything he taught, which is the wonderfully non-dogmatic way of philosophy. It’s okay to cherry-pick and choose what speaks to you most. But I do think Epicurus is intensely useful for living an intentional life and fighting against the quicksands of capitalism.

His biggest takeaways that apply to our modern consumer society are:

Humans, like other animals, naturally gravitate toward what feels good right now
Humans are bad at calculating what will actually make them feel good or bad in the long term
If we keep it simple to our natural desires, we can feel good and satisfied more often
Once we feel satisfied, we will feel less anxiety about what we think we need in life

Simple Living Every Day

I follow Epicureanism in my own life by checking each of my consumer desires when they arise. What will each thing I covet truly bring to my life? How will it satisfy an actual need? Through nomadic, off-grid living, I often live right on the margin of what I need. Some people may see this is as hardship, but I often feel so much more rich than with all the comforts because of the incredible benefits and freedom a mobile life gives me, well worth the tradeoffs.

I find that practical items are most likely to bring me sustainable joy and help me appreciate the essentials of life even more. I feel grateful for the sun that powers our life and the panels and batteries we bought that let us bring our own electricity wherever we go. We upgraded 5 gallon water jugs to a 60 gallon water bladder to refill our tank and that brings great satisfaction and appreciation for the ability to easily haul water.

I’m happier than when I had unlimited access to all these basic resources, but instead of leveling up and desiring the next level of life accouterments, I stay focused on these simple things. And at the same time, because my desires are focused mostly on free resources, I’m not spending money on the fancy stuff and saving it instead. I’m saving not for the money itself, but to make the trade to work less, and get more of my daily life back on my own terms.

Luxury possessions more often than not actually repulse me because I look at them and don’t see a shiny object, but instead the weight of what it costs, in money, time, and effort. On the flip side, I still do indulge in material items that are low cost and brings me closer to others, like a large tent I bought to host friends and LED flow toys to bring entertainment to the nights. They are enjoyed even more because they are special, infrequent purchases.

But I can also be tempted by new clothes and resisting that specific desire is one of my personal struggles. Buying clothes online is a great example of how fulfilling a desire can just bring you discomfort. I’ll order a piece and excitedly wait for it to arrive. Once it does though, so often it doesn’t fit right or have the look I expected, so I have to return or exchange it. Bascially what I’ve done is mail myself a chore, now needing to go through the return process, find somewhere to print a shipping label, and go to a post office (these last two can be especially tricky as an always-moving nomad). But I handicap myself in this desire by rarely having an address I can ship things to and instead go ‘window shopping’ online without buying anything. The next step will be to delete the shopping app that is Instagram, but Epicurus might have to come back from the dead to help me with that one.

Another fancy desire I had more recently came out of spending time in our friends’ fifth wheels, larger rigs than ours that have tall ceilings and feel more like an apartment than a trailer. I toyed with the idea of looking to upgrade to one in the future, but weighed the long arduous process of getting a new rig (always a gamble in terms of quality) and also having to upgrade our truck to a larger model to pull it. I realized all that money and effort could bring us some marginal joy, but ultimately would not be worth it in the long term. Plus, because I had focused on the simple desire of building a community, I can enjoy my friends’ high ceilings multiple nights a week as we hang out together. The fancy desire emerged, brought excitement, and was considered and weighed, and as the excitement gently faded away, so did the desire. Practicing appreciation without possession ultimately brings me more pleasure.

When we catch ourselves deliberating about how to spend time, choose what will produce pleasures, gratitude, and memories.

~Emily Austin, Living for Pleasure

Epicureanism is an antidote to living in the land of too much. It offers the gift of finding happiness around every corner, in every simple thing you do. And what an incredible gift- one that no one can sell you or take away.

So this is how you get rich quick with Epicurus -maybe the only real get-rich-quick scheme, one that can be put to work right away. And yes, yes, I’m not talking about becoming a billionaire and I know you’re all very disappointed. But give it a try and release what you think you need, who you think you should be, what you think you need to achieve. Hang out with your friends and simply be. True wealth isn't found in a bank balance, but in the fullness of your experiences, the depth of your relationships, and the peace in your heart. But let’s be honest….if you can be satisfied with bread and water, you’re going to save a shit ton of money too.