RuleAttested · Epicureanism
The tetrapharmakos: the fourfold cure
Nothing to fear from the gods, nothing to dread in death; what is good is easy to obtain, what is painful easy to endure.
The Epicureans condensed their wisdom into a "fourfold cure" to memorize for peace of mind. Four maxims against the four great sources of anguish: the gods, death, pain, and desire. Today it is a small rational mantra to recite when worry rises.
When Whenever a worry rises: about the gods, death, lack, or pain.
- What is beyond me (the divine, fate) need not terrify me; I need not live in dread of punishment.
- Death is nothing to me, for where I am, it is not, and where it is, I no longer am.
- What is good is easy to obtain; simple, natural pleasures suffice for happiness.
- What is painful is easy to endure; intense pains are brief, and lasting pains are bearable.
These maxims ease existential anxiety, but they do not replace medical care for real pain or support in deep distress. "Easy to endure" is an encouragement, not a denial of suffering.
Enacts
- Death · Freeing ourselves from the fear
- Relation to desire · Reasoned selection
- The highest good · Hedonism
Source: Epicureanism
Appears in
- Taming the fear — The sages proposed exercises for living without being haunted by it, dwelling on it daily or not at all: can philosophy truly cure us of this fear, or does it cling to us too hard to yield?