

Tetrapharmakos - Epicurus's remedy for leading the happiest possible life. - Arun2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapharmakos

======
RyanMcGreal
There's an old Irish saying.

 _You have only two things to worry about: either you're healthy or you're
sick. If you're healthy, you have nothing to worry about. If you're sick, you
have only two things to worry about: either you're going to get better or
you're going to die. If you get better, you have nothing to worry about. If
you die, you have only two things to worry about: either you're going to
heaven or you're going to hell. If you go to heaven, you have nothing to worry
about. If you got to hell, you'll be so busy greeting old friends you won't
have time to worry._

Bonus points for expressing this saying in the most concise pseudocode.

~~~
techiferous
worries = healthy ? 0 : better ? 0 : heaven ? 0 : while(true) { friends.greet
}

~~~
lucifer
That may throw an exception if greeting is "Cheers" and the tap is dry ...

~~~
prodigal_erik
If it throws, you have only two things to worry about: either you're going to
catch or you're going to die.

------
bgurupra
Have been reading up on some Buddhist meditation of late and that focuses on
the present moment.

Don't think about the past - Honestly when was the last time you learnt
something by spending hours pondering the past

Don't think about the future - Future is always different from what you think
it will be

It is about letting go really, once you can "Let Go" you are much happier a
person

~~~
Arun2009
I too am reading up on Buddhism, primarily the works of Bhante Henepola
Gunaratna.

However, I think it's natural to think about the past and worry about the
future. The key IMO is to do these _productively_ , and not go about thinking
or worrying just for their own sakes like a broken record.

If you're thinking about the past, think deliberately in order to distill any
lesson you hope to learn from it. Write down these points somewhere, ala GTD
style. And then put the past aside - you're done with it.

Similarly, worrying about the future can warn us about potential dangers.
Worrying should cause us to ask specific questions such as "what's the worst
that can happen?", "how am I prepared to face the worst, if it does happen?",
"what steps can I take immediately to ensure that the worst does not happen?",
etc. Once these are made clear in a list, take the worry entirely off your
mind.

------
gloob
Epicureanism and Stoicism are a lot more similar than most people think.

An example from Epicurus:

    
    
      If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches
      but take away from his desires.
    

And one from Epictetus, a stoic:

    
    
      Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one's
      desires, but by the removal of desire.
    

There are differences, of course, but epicurianism is a lot less, well,
epicurean than many believe.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
The stoics fundamentally taught that moral substance exists only in intent --
that is, good and evil exist only in willful action. Therefore, it makes no
sense to think of external circumstances or things out of our control as being
either good or bad. Ownership of things is out of our control, and therefore
neither good nor bad. To a stoic, desire is putting moral weight on something
you cannot control. You can read more about this here:
<http://ptypes.com/common-false-values.html>

------
iterationx
That's pretty much the opposite of my religion, traditional Catholicism.
(Prov. 1:7) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
Catholicism does not emphasize mortal happiness.

