Another good visit on Saturday with my beloved mentor, and the anniversary tomorrow of my dad's passing at age 79 in 2008, reinforces for me the wisdom of this epicurean attitude:
"… a correct comprehension of the fact that death means nothing to us makes the mortal aspect of life pleasurable, not by conferring on us a boundless period of time but by removing the yearning for deathlessness. …
This, the most horrifying of evils, means nothing to us, then, because so long as we are existent death is not present and whenever it is present we are nonexistent. …
The sophisticated person neither begs off from living nor dreads not living. …
As in the case of food he prefers the most savory dish to merely the larger portion, so in the case of time he garners to himself the most agreeable moments rather than the longest span…"
https://open.substack.com/pub/figsinwinter/p/epicurus-on-death-and-the-gods?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
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