My Lesson on Happiness and Fear

Philosophy class is now teaching us about happiness. Happiness is somewhat foreign to me. It's not that I've never experienced a happy feeling, it's the fact that the feeling doesn't last long. We began with Plato's philosophy of happiness being achieved through knowledge and wisdom, which I'm pretty sure that even highly educated people are not guaranteed happiness. According to Aristotle, being virtuous in your choices in life helps us make wise decisions. Of course we are human and we tend to not be as virtuous as we should in every day life. Next we began to study Epicurus, whom believed that happiness can be had by everyone. We don't have to be in constant search of knowledge and wisdom, nor do we always make virtue the main purpose in our lives. We need to try to live a pleasant life.We need to learn to distinguish between good and evil. As humans we associate good with something that brings our lives pleasure and evil with things that bring us pain. This is how decide whether something should be categorized as good or evil. Through philosophy Epicurus believed we can attain a happy life. If we are pursuing pleasure it keeps us from pain, which main components are fear and anxiety. Epicurus does recognize that all pain cannot be avoided such as a death of a loved one. You would of course feel pain. Other pains can be avoided. Humans put unnecessary worries on our own lives instead of concentrating on the good in our lives. Epicurus philosophised about how we fear and worry about the fear of the unknown. People in his time worshiped a multiple number of gods. The people of that time lived in constant worry of angering the gods.They then believed they would be punished, but Epicurus believed the gods didn't meddle in common human affairs, so there was no need to have an anxiety attack about something humans can't control.Another huge fear that we as humans are faced with is that we know we are mortal, but we don't know what happens after we die. Epicurus did not believe in an after life. He thought death was a means to an end, we simply stop existing. He thought we should be more concerned with living and shouldn't fear death because the pain is gone. Epicurus said "while we exist death is not present and when death is present we no longer exist. It is therefore nothing either to the living or to the dead since it is not present to the living, and the dead are no longer". Today you hear people use this same philosophy. Death is an inevitable, we are all going to some day die.If we are constantly obsessing over it our short time spend her will be squandered away on worries and anxiety. I, unlike Epicurus, believe in an afterlife, but I do believe Epicurus would say if I was to pursue happiness in a healthy way I would first have to put aside my fears and anxieties about fearful things. I would have to embrace the pleasures in life, in moderation, and keep pursuing good desires and part with the constant fear of pain and evil.