An Observation: The Mushroom Burger | The Bad Epicurean

I occasionally write a blog combining persona life-blogging with Epicurean philosophy.

The above article explores one of the core doctrines, by way of my lunch break from the corporate grind. In short, Epicurus suggests that much human suffering comes from wanting too much-- For instance, wanting rich foods when sustinance will do. I had a chance to consider this when the local fancy burger place slathered my precious lunch in foul fungus.

What do you think? Does wanting special things make you happier, or does it make you sadder? Can you combine examples from your own life, or stories, with generalizations that apply to other situations?

Hmm, I wonder if I can find the words that I want, probably not

If I view your arguement from the side, as it were. Isn't it more people failing to be content with what they have? Also some people's need to be better than others, to make themselves feel worthwhile? But again, that's just the inability to find content with what you have.

I could ramble on and on. But it all boils down to my basic philosophy: Humans have got too much time on their hands >.>

Life is easy for us now, so we struggle to find a way to deal with that basic survival instinct. Because it's still there, it just doesn't know what to do with itself any more. So it comes out in modern ways. Where as you used to defend your patch of earth because it couldn't sustain more than your family, now you shoot people who are a different colour who come into your part of town.

Same shit, different eon : /

On an individual level I do think it's just a different aspect of the same thing. Maybe it's because we spend our lives being told we're the superior race? So some people feel the need to be superior in everything. Though this is often hiding deep psychologic issues, usually ones of deep unhappiness.

Maybe all the people who feel they are better than anyone else because they eat fancy food and so on. They should all spend a year living an extremely simple life. Having to be entirely self-sufficient. Basically, go back to how this race lived before modern conveniences. I think they'd find they were too busy working to stay alive to have time for any bullshit like fancy burgers :)

At the end of it, they'd probably find themselves pretty reluctant to go back to the rat race, too. No matter how much they were looking forward to a return to mod cons, because their mental and physical health would have improved dramatically from a year of manual labour, no junk food or addictive substances, no work-induced stress. Plus the general satisfaction of doing stuff yourself.

I love seeing my favorite argument crop up, said argument being that boredom (an over-abundance of free-time, call it what you will) is one of the world's greatest evils (though I have a feeling that it isn't quite what Tam was angling for when he started this thread). Of course, we then have to stop and wonder what sort of creative works would have come of a world filled with those trying to do little more than survive.

It may be true that we now have conveniences that grant us an over-abundance of time, things which keep us from having to focus primarily on survival, which allow us to turn our attentions elsewhere, give us time to want, etc. but so too does it give us time to create things of great thought and beauty, to ponder, to plan, to improve.

While I will be one of the first to agree that modern conveniences and the current societal drive for new, better, faster, etc. creates additional stress and craziness with less positive return than they believe they're getting, I will also say that modern conveniences themselves are not at fault. They are tools, nothing more, nothing less. It is society which teaches us to rely wholly upon them and nothing else, to want more things, better things, faster things, more convenient thing rather than being content with what we have. There are those who would have us fill ourselves with want until there is room for little else because that is simply how consumerism works. Gaps are created (wants), that are made to feel like needs, and so we look to fill them with things, but none of them are what we truly want or need and so, eventually, they are cast aside, and we look for something newer/better/different in the hopes of filling the void that has been created, the void that we are encouraged, day in and day out, to fill with pointless things. We have too much time on our hands, we are encouraged to fill it with silly wants, the economy prospers. If you want a quick bit of proof, take a look this lovely little quote about the movie industry during various recessions:

“We have seen an increase in box office and attendance in six of the eight last recessions. People seek relief in forgetting their problems, so they go to the movies, and it is the least expensive form of entertainment.”

There is always something new, something distracting, something to temporarily fill that gap coming out.

I do agree completely, that not being happy with what you have is essentially the same thing as wanting too much, and that the difference is all about our culture's tendency to reduce the number of needs that are in question but replace them with more misunderstood wants.

However, I'm of two minds as to whether that's actually new to our place and time.

On the one hand, I'm not sure we're as special as we think, even in this. Epicurus would talk about consumerism, and the seeking of luxury, in much the same way. He was speaking to people who craved spices instead of porridge, but is that different from craving a bigger television?

On the other hand, perhaps things are progressing more and more in that direction. The combination of an information and consumer (luxury for the masses) economy is all about the fact that so many of us are never far from everything we need to survive, so we find ourselves craving whatever is next, onward and onward until we think a smartphone is a legitimate "need". It keeps our society ticking, keeps the necessary illusions of economics pushing the engine that, ultimately, also feeds and clothes us all.

Indeed, I suspect the movement in what counts as a luxury is part of how the name "Epicurean" slowly flipped to the opposite of it's original meaning. Instead of someone who seeks to minimize wants and fears, and relish in subsisting, it can now also mean someone who enjoys sensual pleasures like fine foods. Perhaps because, in this day and age, focusing on mere food and drink is at least closer to what we need to survive?

Don't a lot of people now have zero perception of actual need though? It is all want. Like you say about the smartphone. But then I'm not blaming them for feeling like this, they don't know any different, it's all they know. Many have been immersed in consumerism since they first drew breath, most probably, particularly today's teenager D:

You have to go back several generations now, to people like my nan, to find real knowledge of want, from people who lived through WWII. And how did people react once rationing was over? Rich food! Understandable then, but it became habit, and now...heart disease : /

I do think people who always go for the fancier food options are trying to fill a void within themselves. Like the woman who has 200 pairs of Jimmy Choos, but cannot conceive. Something is missing from their life, so they try to fill that gap with rampant consumerism. They maybe gain shallow satisfaction from the envy of others, but it's not going to fix the deeper problem.

Having said that, I'll go for a fancy option, if someone else is paying, and it sounds good. But I'd not want to eat like that all the time. You'd get sick of it pretty quickly I'd have thought, and start craving a plateful of bread and butter or something equally simple.

But maybe some need to go through that process? To be a consumer glutton until they sicken from it, then have a realisation. But for a lot that realisation never comes I guess : /

These opinions from me, someone who has no money for anything new and is perfectly fine with that. If I can't get it on Ebay for cheaps, then I go without, simple. Going back to the smartphone; my phone's about 8 years old now. xD I don't want a smartphone, but then I'm content with going without and it's what I'm used to. My phone still works, when it dies I'll get a new one, but not before. I don't feel the need to have something because it's what everyone else has. I'm far more likely to positively avoid something because of that. So I've got my own issues there, haven't I ;D

Wanting "special" things makes me happier to an extend, but given the way I view my life I don't really like the idea of "Get all the luxuries I can"...

Like a TV. I don't watch TV and buying one wont make me watch it. Will it make me happy? No...

Buying a new computer. I use on a lot. Will it make me happy? Slightly.
Dark Chocolate would also make me slightly more happy (even if it is chemical based)

But I have found that the closer to my basic needs (Food/Water/Shelter) I get, only adding a luxuries that would increase quality of life (internet, computers, etc) happiness isn't too complex.

@ Seri - Boredom is caused by the lack of an outlet. If someone has even just paper/pencil and the willingness to use it boredom isn't that hard to get rid of.

@ Jelly - You mean the kids who say "I NEED a new phone and it's ONLY $200!"?
I actually got a smartphone myself, but I have found it has helped me with my greatest problems. I NEVER check my e-mail. So now I have a device that will harass me until I read it.