Ancient Greek Wisdom Inspires Guidelines to Good Life
Is it possible to enjoy a peaceful life in a world that is increasingly challenged by threats and uncertainties from wars, terrorism, economic crises and a widespread outbreak of infectious diseases? The answer is yes, according to a new book The 10 Golden Rules: Ancient Wisdom from the Greek Philosophers on Living a Good Life. The book is co-authored by Long Island University's philosophy professor Michael Soupios and economics professor Panos Mourdoukoutas.
The wisdom of the ancient Greek philosophers is timeless, says Soupios. The philosophy professor says it is as relevant today as when it was first written many centuries ago. "There is no expiration(失效) date on wisdom." he says. "There is no shelf life on intelligence. I think that things have become very gloomy these days, lots of misunderstanding, misleading cues, a lot of what the ancients would have called sophistry(诡辩). The nice thing about ancient philosophy as offered by the Greeks is that they tended to see life clear and whole, in a way that we tend not to see life today."
Soupios, along with his co-author Panos Mourdoukoutas, developed their 10 golden rules by turning to the men behind that philosophy—Aristotle, Socrates, Epictetus and Pythagoras, among others. The first rule—examine your life—is the common thread that runs through the entire book. Soupios says that it is based on Plato's observation that the unexamined life is not worth living. "The Greeks are always concerned about boxing themselves in, in terms of convictions(信念)," he says. "So take a step back, switch off the automatic pilot and actually stop and reflect about things like our priorities, our values, and our relationships."
As we begin to examine our life, Soupios says, we come to Rule No. 2: Worry only about things that you can control. "The individual who promoted this idea was a Stoic philosopher. His name is Epictetus," he says. "And what the Stoics say in general is simply this: There is a larger plan in life. You are not really going to be able to understand all of the dimensions of this plan. You are not going to be able to control the dimensions of this plan."
So, Soupios explains, it is not worth it to waste our physical, intellectual and spiritual energy worrying about things that are beyond our control. "I can not control whether or not I wind up getting the disease swine flu, for example," he says. "I mean, there are some cautious steps I can take, but ultimately I can not guarantee myself that. So what Epictetus would say is sitting at home worrying about that would be wrong and wasteful and irrational. You should live your life attempting to identify and control those things which you can genuinely control."
To have a meaningful, happy life we need friends. But according to Aristotle—a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great—most relationships don't qualify as true friendships. "Just because I have a business relationship with an individual and I can profit from that relationship, it does not necessarily mean that this person is my friend," Soupios says. "Real friendship is when two individuals share the same soul. It is a beautiful and uncharacteristically poetic image that Aristotle offers."
In our pursuit of the good life, he says, it is important to seek out true pleasures—advice which was originally offered by Epicurus. But unlike the modern definition of Epicureanism as a life of indulgence(放纵) and luxury, for the ancient Greeks, it meant finding a state of calm, peace and mental ease.
"This was the highest and most desirable form of pleasure and happiness for the ancient Epicureans," Soupios says. "This is something that is very much well worth considering here in the modern era. I do not think that we spend nearly enough time trying to concentrate on achieving a sort of calmness, a sort of contentment in a mental and spiritual way, which was identified by these people as the highest form of happiness and pleasure."
Other golden rules counsel us to master ourselves, to avoid excess and not to be a prosperous(发迹的) fool. There are also rules dealing with interpersonal relationships: Be a responsible human being and do not do evil things to others.
"This is Hesiod, of course, a younger contemporary poet, we believe, with Homer," Soupios says. "Hesiod offers an idea—which you very often find in some of the world's great religions, in the Judeo-Christian tradition and in Islam and others—that in some sense, when you hurt another human being, you hurt yourself. That damaging other people in your community and in your life, trashing relationships, results in a kind of self-inflicted(自己招致的) spiritual wound."
Instead, Soupios says, ancient wisdom urges us to do good. Golden Rule No. 10 for a good life is that kindness toward others tends to be rewarded.
"This is Aesop, the fabulist(寓言家), the man of these charming little tales, often told in terms of animals and animal relationships," he says. "I think what Aesop was suggesting is that when you offer a good turn to another human being, one can hope that that good deed will come back and sort of pay a profit to you, the doer of the good deed. Even if there is no concrete benefit paid in response to your good deed, at the very least, the doer of the good deed has the opportunity to enjoy a kind of spiritually enlightened moment."
Soupios says following the 10 Golden Rules based on ancient wisdom can guide us to the path of the good life where we stop living as onlookers and become engaged and happier human beings. And that, he notes, is a life worth living.