Epicurus - Live Like A God On An Average Salary (Epicureanism)

Why It Matters

Applying Epicurean principles helps employees and entrepreneurs cut financial stress, boost mental health, and sustain productivity, proving that wealth is measured more by peace of mind than paycheck size.

Key Takeaways

• Happiness depends on desire control, not income level.
• Categorize wants: necessary, optional, vain; focus on basics.
• Keep baseline low to enjoy occasional luxuries (Cheese Principle).
• Prioritize physical pain‑free (Aponia) and mental tranquility (Ataraxia).
• Invest in friendships (“Garden”) for social wealth over material riches.

Summary

The video explains how Epicurus’ ancient philosophy shows that a god‑like life is achievable without a six‑figure income, emphasizing contentment over consumption.

Epicurus divides desires into natural‑necessary, natural‑unnecessary, and vain‑empty, urging viewers to satisfy basic needs, treat upgrades as optional, and discard status‑driven cravings. He introduces the “Cheese Principle,” warning that repeated luxuries become normal and lose joy, and stresses the twin goals of Aponia (absence of pain) and Ataraxia (absence of anxiety).

Key quotes include his letter to Idomeneus—‘Give me barley bread and water, and I will rival Zeus in happiness’—and ‘He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most.’ The narrator illustrates these ideas with Epicurus’ Garden, a modest community where friends share meals and philosophy instead of wealth.

For today’s workers, the lesson is to keep living costs low, invest in close friendships, and periodically practice minimalism to erase fear of scarcity. By prioritizing health, time, and social bonds, individuals can achieve higher well‑being without chasing ever‑rising material standards.

Original Description

Epicurus - How To Live Like A God On An Average Salary (Epicureanism). In this video we will be talking about How To Live Like A God On An Average Salary from the philosophy of Epicurus. His philosophy is often referenced as Epicurean hedonism or simply Epicureanism.

So here are 5 ways to live like a God from the philosophy of Epicurus -

01. Categorize Your Desires

02. The "Cheese" Principle

03. Prioritize “Aponia” and “Ataraxia"

04. Invest in your "Garden"

05. Master the "Fear of Lack"

I hope you enjoyed watching the video and hope these 5 ways to live like a God from the philosophy of Epicurus will add value to your life.

Epicurus is one of the most important figures in the history of philosophy, as well as of science. He is less known than Plato or Socrates, but, nonetheless, his teachings are precious and timeless. He lived between 341 to 270 BC, and wrote more than 300 works during his lifetime. Most of his work has been lost, but what remains is extremely relevant even today. In science, he was one of the first to describe the natural world as made of atoms and he rightly understood that all the natural phenomena are in fact based on the movement of atoms. Also, he strongly stressed the importance of basing our beliefs on empirical evidence and logic. In philosophy, he was part of the hedonist movement and he was most famous for his skilful insights into the concept of happiness, starting his own School of Happiness, also known as Epicurean hedonism or simply Epicureanism. If stoics believed that living justly and virtuously is the highest good and that we should be indifferent to pleasure and pain, Epicureanism believed that we should seek to maximise the pleasures in life. There were some rumours that in his school people lavished themselves in orgies, luxury and decadence, but these rumours were unfounded. Epicurus didn’t have any interest in orgies and expensive meals. His idea of pleasure is far from the classical one. He departed from the classical school of hedonism for which pleasure is the highest good, adding that the pleasure of the mind, not the pleasure of the senses, is the true ‘highest good’. He believed that the greatest happiness comes from reducing suffering, achieving an inner state of peace which he called ataraxia. Ataraxia means being content with simple things in life, like having philosophical conversations about the meaning of life, in your small garden, with your best friends. According to Epicurus, the pleasure from pursuing wisdom is the highest form of pleasure, and the most valuable as it is the one that leads us to true happiness.