Atomistic materialism?  So I don’t hold to some of the finer points of Epicurean philosophy like the belief in a strictly material universe and the neutrality of the pantheon.  Nor am I as strictly close to acetisism as he was.  What I can say is this, Epicurus has been pretty badly represented in and among us in the modern time.  In fact, one is more likely to find hedonism, which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good and that actions are judged based on the pain or pleasure they cause,  as the common caricature of Epicurus’ philosophical system.  Perhaps the truth of the matter is that we are more hedonistic than we’d like to admit.  Maybe this is why we like to wrongly characterize ourselves as Epicures.  Whatever the case may be, I’d like to commend to you why I think it’s great to be an Epicure in some respects and why we should be happy to be so.  By the way, that’s Pupicurus (aka Curious Pup) taking in the aromas of Dark Lord.

Real Epicurean philosophy doesn’t find its grounding in excess pleasure.  It finds its real power in the simplicity of the ideas of freedom from fear, the modest (read moderate) enjoyment of pleasures, absence of war, absence of bodily pain, and most importantly, friendship.  Strange that Epicurus held these ideals within his strictly materialistic view of the world.  He seems to be a man who was other worldly in a lot of ways.  Don’t worry, I’m getting to beer.

For a long time, I’ve been buying commercial beer and plenty of it.  I’ve spent untold amounts of money on beer that only my wife and I have shared (friends have often been in the mix).  Back then, I had plenty of money to spend on brew and was happy to be extravagant in spending it.  But it seems like I’ve gotten less and less bang for my buck and lost some simple pleasures of enjoying a beer.  Instead, I went for the next newest rarest beer.  Who knows why.

About seven years ago, I started homebrewing.  About 2 or so years ago, I started mashing.  I realized that my brewing skills were improving drastically and that I was starting to make some seriously good beer.  The more of my own beer I drank, the more I realized how much better it was to drink 50 bottles of homebrew for the price of 4 or 5 good bottles of beer.  What’s more, I was drinking it with people I cared about and sharing it with all of them.  All the while, we were talking about the quality, tastes, and merits of my brew.  I became more and more encouraged to brew my own.  Then it happened.

I really don’t share too much really personal stuff on the site, but suffice it to say I was out of work for over three months.  Things can get really tight during those times.  Your mind starts to shift onto wasted money and resolving ways to be more frugal in the future.  You also begin to think about the simple pleasures.  Forget expensive beers, forget extravagant meals, forget excess.  But also, and let me be clear here, forget mere utility as well.  At any rate, I found myself thinking about the simple pleasure of drinking homebrew and sharing it with friends (something I was doing often during this time because I had the beer, the friends, and the time).

Now I’m going to cultivate my own hops, mill my grain, and try to keep a yeast bank in order to be able brew more beer.  I’m inviting friends to learn to brew.  I’m sharing with those friends and making a conscious effort to really spend time with my friends.  Tell me this: what’s important to you?  I’ll tell you what’s important to me.  Friends and family are important to me.  Good beer and good food are important to me.  A life that has time for relaxing (read tranquility if you want) is important to me.

We live in a very busy world that is full of strict obligations, heavy financial burdens, and a constant stream of inundation.  Here’s what I’m doing.  I’m turning off the T.V., stating that this isn’t actually unwinding, and I’m brewing up my own beer so that I can have more to share (it also helps for the future brewery in terms of people tasting them and perfecting recipes), and I’m going to say “forget constantly spending dollar after dollar on commercial brew” (I will still buy a bottle now and then).  It’s back to the basics.  Drink my brew with my friends and enjoy a life of freedom.  This is unwinding, and this is truly Epicurean.