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Concepts of Right and Wrong

 

            The good life for Epicurus is pleasure. If you aim for that throughout your whole life, you have a good life. Happiness is simply pleasure; so, doing what pleases you and no one else will essentially bring you the true happiness that we all search for in our lives. Moreover, there are two kinds of desire: natural desire and vain desire. Natural desire is basically what needs to be satisfied and that is easy to satisfy. These necessities include eating and drinking because they are the most accessible satisfactions that will bring us ultimate happiness. There are satisfactions that are unnecessary, which include sex or any other intense emotional state that pleases us intensely. These should be avoided because they are dangerous to our well-being. Vain desires are desires that are difficult to satisfy and are not necessary to be satisfied, which include exotic foods or decorative clothing. Then, there is ataraxia, which is the desire of tranquility or the absence of bodily pain and moderate relaxation of the mind. Ataraxia is the ultimate pleasure that all humans pursue and search for. In simpler terms, Epicurus believed in a self-centered philosophy, which advises all humans to do what they think is best for themselves and what they feel will bring them the ultimate happiness in the end. Christianity, on the other hand, does not view pleasure as the ultimate happiness. It is quite the contrary: they believe that by keeping the Ten Commandments and devoting a life to God that you will find a fulfilling inner peace within your soul causing your happiness to be eternal because God is eternal. Doing all of these things will grant you a life everlasting, meaning that you will enter into the Kingdom of God and have eternal life with Him. Another way for true happiness is by loving your neighbor as yourself. In doing so, you would find gratitude for all people. Even if someone does you wrong and becomes your enemy, Jesus still tells us to love them.


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