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[ ♫ Gentle Music ♫ ]

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Narrator: Ever since ancient times [br]human beings have looked to

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philosophy for the secret of happiness, [br]but few philosophers have

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come up with more suggestive[br]or more relevant answers than

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one born on the Greek island of Samos, [br]off the coast of modern Turkey,

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three hundred and forty one years [br]before the birth of Christ .

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His name was Epicurus. [br]

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Very little about him has survived;

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all of his books have been lost [br]across the centuries,

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leaving his philosophy of happiness to be [br]reconstructed from just a few fragments.

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Epicurus believed that we could all [br]find a way to be happy; the problem was,[br]

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quite simply, that we were looking [br]in the wrong place.

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[♫♫]

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Unlike many philosophers, Epicurus' idea [br]of happiness actually sounds rather fun,

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he didn't think we should feel guilty[br]about wanting to have a pleasurable,

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enjoyable life and promised that he [br]could show us how to.

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Of course you might wonder why you [br]need a philosopher at all to teach you how

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to have a good time. [br]We seem to think that the key to happiness

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is really pretty easy;[br]its all about having a lot of money,

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so we can come to places like this,[br]and go shopping.

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But before we reach for our wallets, [br]Epicurus wanted us to stop and think;

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it's easy to imagine that money[br]can solve everything, but can it?

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[ ♫ Singing in Greek ♫ ]

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Epicurus was committed to a life of happiness;[br]he liked sex, laughter and beauty, but

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crucially spent his time pointing out that [br]happiness is in fact, rather a tricky issue,

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and a philosopher might help you to find it[br]more easily than a credit card ever could.

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That Epicurus was in favour of pleasure [br]at all shocked many of his ancient Greek

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contemporaries, his philosophy became [br]synonymous with a lotus eating lifestyle.

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To this day, people who love luxurious [br]eating and drinking can sometimes be

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described as Epicurean, in fact that's[br]a complete misunderstanding.

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[♫ Singing continues ♫ ]

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Botton: Epicurus said that pleasure was the [br]most important thing in life, and yet if

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we actually look at the way that he lived,[br]it seems he lived far from a

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luxurious life. His house was very[br]simple, his clothes were extremely basic,

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he always drank water rather than wine, [br]he found fish much too expensive and

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he was happy just eating meals with bread,[br]vegetables and a few olives.

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He once asked a friend, send me a pot [br]of cheese, so that I can have a feast

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whenever I like, these were the kinds[br]of tastes of a man who would describe

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pleasure as the end of life.

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Narrator: At the heart of Epicurus' philosophy [br]is a simple thought: that we aren't very

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good at knowing what will make us happy, [br]that we may feel powerfully drawn towards

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material things, and be convinced that [br]they are what we require to be happy.

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We’re often wrong, what we want is not[br]always what we need, and nothing shows

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that up more starkly than our impulse [br]to go shopping.

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Steven: I like shopping, most weeks it’s[br]just a couple of bags but sometimes it’s,

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I don’t know like ten/twelve bags a time, [br]I like designer names.

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Dolce and Gabanna stuff, these clothes, [br]DKNY and I love Gucci clothes as well.

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Narrator : Steven Perry is a hairdresser from[br]Liverpool who spends all his spare time shopping.

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Steven: I suppose I could resist, but usually[br]I don't, usually I just go in and shop anywhere.

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Although when I go out buying all this stuff, [br]it makes me happy, at the end of the

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month when the credit card [br]and the store card bills and the

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loan payments come out, stuff like that,[br]then that doesn’t make me happy because

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I see how much is going out, every month[br]on debt.

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[ Indistinct Talking ]

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Botton: How many watches have you got?

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Steven: Not really that many, probably[br]about ten. Something like that.

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Botton: You've only got ten watches?[br]Steven: Only ten

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Botton: I've only got one![br]What’s the one you’re wearing now?

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Steven: A spoon watch at the minute, [br]I like this just for general everyday

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because it’s only like ninety nine[br]pounds and...[br]

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Narrator: Steven often gets into debt and [br]I couldn't help wondering if his desire

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to go shopping might be [br]a bit out of control.

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Botton: So if that’s the everyday watch, [br]what’s the fancy watch?

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Steven: The thousand pound Tag watch[br]-- Oh my God, that’s amazing, so what’s

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the craziest thing you've bought in [br]terms of like, bad impulse buying?

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A pair of shorts.[br]-- From where?

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Umm, from a shopping mall in Liverpool, I'll[br]show you them, they didn’t have my size,[br]

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so I thought these’ll fit me, [br]but you put them on and they just tend

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to look truly horrendous, [br]like cycling shorts, sorta thing.

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Botton: How much did they cost?[br]-- God, I don’t know, about fifty pounds?

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Fifty sixty quid, something like that. [br]They were never taken back,

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the same as these jeans; I [br]think these have still got the labels on.

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I just got these home and they didn't fit[br]miles too long and miles too big.

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I did mean to take them back [br]but I don’t like taking things back.

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Narrator: Do you ever get home and think [br]I'm surrounded by shopping bags

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and you’re thinking God, [br]what am I going to do with all this?

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--Yeah, especially when you come home and [br]you've just got bags everywhere

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and you think, Why have I spent all that? [br]And the credit card bill comes at the

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end of the month and you think,[br]Oh! Why did I spend all that?

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Narrator: In a way we're all a bit[br]like Steven, people who shop too much;

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Epicurus thought he knew why.[br]We don’t understand what we really

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need and so fall prey to manic substitute[br]desires for huge numbers of ill-fitting

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trousers or countless pairs of shoes. [br]But Epicurus declared that he had

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actually discovered what we did need, [br]and luckily for anyone without

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much money, the ingredients of[br]happiness come pretty cheap.

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The first ingredient we need is friends.[br]Epicurus took the idea of friendship

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very seriously, so seriously that [br]he made an extremely radical innovation.

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When he came to Athens in 306 BC[br]at the age of 35, he bought a large house

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just outside the city of Athens, this[br]place here which he called ‘The Garden’;

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of course at that time it was rather[br]beautiful, more beautiful than it is now,

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where it seems to be a taxi graveyard. [br]

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What he did, was that he bought this house

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and asked a group of friends [br]to move in with him.[br]

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The house was quite large, so there was [br]room enough for everyone to have

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their own quarters at the same time[br]as coming together for meals and

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conversations in the common rooms[br]of the house. [br][br]

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What Epicurus was doing was picking up [br]on a rather common sense point,

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which is that friends are a[br]major source of happiness.

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But I think where he was distinctive was [br]in his idea that in order

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to really benefit from friends,[br]you had to see them not just occasionally

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not just for the odd drink in a bar[br]or the odd chat on the phone,

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he had to be with his friends at all[br]times, so they’d be permanent companions.

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And I think that was his distinctive[br]idea of happiness.

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Narrator: You wouldn't catch Epicurus[br]devouring lunch on his own in a burger bar;

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he recommended that we try [br]never even to eat a snack alone.

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Before you eat or drink anything, he said, [br]Consider carefully who you eat or drink with,

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rather than what you eat or drink, [br]for feeding without a friend is the life

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of a lion or a wolf.

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[ ♫♫ ]

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Narrator: The second thing Epicurus thought[br]we needed to be happy was freedom and

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in order to achieve it,[br]he and his friends decided to

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leave Athens altogether.[br]

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For them, to be free meant to be financially

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independent, economically self-sufficient,[br]not answerable to horrible bosses

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for their income, [br]so they resolved to leave city life,

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and its competitive and gossipy atmosphere [br]behind them once and for all.

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So they left Athens and started [br]what could best be described as a commune.

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We must free ourselves from the prison[br]of everyday life and politics,

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Epicurus wrote, and that’s [br]precisely what they did.

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The life was simple,[br]but at least they enjoyed their freedom.

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They didn’t mind if they looked shabby, or[br]didn’t have as much money as other people,

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because they were self-sufficient,[br]and had gained their independence

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from what other people thought.[br]There was, in a financial sense,

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nothing to prove.

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Epicurus believed there was a third [br]ingredient necessary for happiness,

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and that was an analysed life. [br]By which he meant a life in which

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we take time off to reflect on our [br]worries, to analyse what is troubling us.

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Our anxieties quickly diminish if we give[br]ourselves time to think them through.

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And to do that we need to take[br]a step back from the noisy distractions

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of the commercial world, and to find time[br]and space for quiet thinking [br]

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about our lives.

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Of course, having loads of money[br]has never made anyone unhappy,

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but I think the lovely idea in [br]Epicurus is that if you’re denied money

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for whatever reason, and yet you have[br]his 3 goods, that is you’ve got friends,

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you’ve got an analysed life, [br]and you’re self-sufficient,

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then you’ll never be denied happiness.

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And conversely, if you’ve got loads of [br]money but you’re lacking friends,

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you haven’t got a self-sufficient life, [br]you’re not doing a lot of analysing,

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then you’ll never be happy,[br]according to Epicurus.

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So if we try and draw this relationship[br]between happiness and money on a graph,

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imagine that on this side of the graph[br]you’ve got levels of happiness,

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and then on this side you’ve got[br]levels of income, for Epicurus,

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so long as you’ve got enough money[br]to provide you with the essentials of life

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you can start to be happy fairly early on,[br]if you have his 3 goods.

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You won’t get any happier the more[br]money you accumulate,

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the level of happiness stays pretty steady.[br]However, if you’ve got loads of money,

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yet you haven’t got any friends,[br]you’re not self-sufficient,

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you’ve got loads of anxieties,then [br]you’re level of happiness

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is going to stay very flat.

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And I think that’s a lovely consoling idea [br]for anyone who’s either worried about

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the fact that they may lose their money [br]or is denied the chance to make any.

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Narrator: But if the ingredients of happiness[br]are so simple, why aren't

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more of us actually happy?[br]Epicurus blamed advertising.

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As we've just seen, advertising can be[br]enormously seductive;

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it tends to make us feel that there are [br]all sorts of things missing from our lives.

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But Epicurus insisted that we only need[br]three things to be happy:

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friends, freedom and an analysed life. [br]If he's right, why then do

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we want to shop so much?

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Epicurus' answer would be that the [br]commercial world slyly associates the things

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it wants to sell us with the things[br]it knows that we need.

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So for example, this might persuade [br]us to buy Bacardi,

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but only by blurring the fact that its[br]really the friends that we're looking for.

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This one tries to sell us perfume[br]by naming it after the thing

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we're all really after: freedom.

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And this one flogs us whiskey by promising[br]the calm resolution of our problems

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that only an analysed life[br]could bring us.

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And it's this blurring of our

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desires that makes us so confused [br]about what it is we want.

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What are the most important things[br]that make you happy?

0:12:42.961,0:12:49.852
--Umm, the people around me, if [br]theyre happy then I'm happy, umm,

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and like if works going good then [br]that makes me happy as well.

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But do you ever think, [br]what if I threw all this away,

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threw all that away, all these jumpers, [br]and just concentrated on getting work right,

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getting a family and friends right[br]I would never have to go to the

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Trafford centre again.

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Steven: Yeah, because if I shop to cheer myself [br]up, if I'm already happy then I dont need

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to cheer myself up do I?

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Steven: So at the minute Im fairly happy so I'm[br]not shopping quite as much as I used to,

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but who's to say that next week[br]something might happen and then

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I'll just have to go and shop.

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Epicurus may have lived more than[br]two thousand years ago but he would've

0:13:48.179,0:13:52.685
understood the pressures that make people[br]like Steven shop so much, and he had a bold

0:13:52.685,0:13:57.651
and practical solution to counter them. [br]The place to find it is here in a dusty

0:13:57.651,0:14:03.313
and remote corner of South-Western Turkey. [br]That Epicurus should still speak to us

0:14:03.313,0:14:07.072
at all is something of a miracle,[br]as every one of the three hundred books

0:14:07.072,0:14:11.710
that he wrote has been lost. But his[br]philosophy developed into a kind of creed,

0:14:11.710,0:14:15.466
almost like a religion, and remained [br]popular for some four hundred years.

0:14:16.295,0:14:21.620
Epicurean communities were founded in places[br]like this, all across the ancient world. And

0:14:21.620,0:14:25.558
it's largely thanks to them that fragments[br]of what Epicurus wrote have survived.

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Narrator: I've come with local Archaeologist [br]Mustufu Adak to see the ruins of .

0:14:36.590,0:14:38.798
the ancient town of Oinoanda.

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Oinoanda was once home to

0:14:44.258,0:14:47.592
twenty five thousand people;[br]a place with a lavish theatre,

0:14:47.592,0:14:50.307
a busy market place, or agora,[br]and a huge aquaduct.

0:14:51.627,0:14:53.307
It was also home to a follower

0:14:53.307,0:14:57.823
of Epicurus' philosophy, one of the[br]wealthiest citizens of the town,

0:14:57.823,0:15:00.391
a man called Diogenes, of Oinoanda.

0:15:04.382,0:15:09.098
Around the AD 120s, this Diogenes took [br]a highly unusual decision,

0:15:09.538,0:15:14.047
he paid for an enormous wall to be put[br]up as part of a giant structure

0:15:14.047,0:15:17.667
known as a Stoa, on which he[br]had inscribed Epicurus'

0:15:17.667,0:15:22.255
entire philosophy of happiness,[br]so that all the citizens of his town

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could learn and be inspired by it. [br]

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Botton: Where are we walking now?[br]Mustufu: We are walking now in the old agora

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where Diogenes had his Stoa.

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Botton: What we're seeing now[br]is bits of the wall.

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Mustufu: This wall was broken up by an earthquake,[br]most probably,

0:15:45.676,0:15:50.000
and there are more than [br]two-hundred fragments of the inscription.

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This is one of the fragments;[br]this is the beginning of the inscription.

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Botton: And this is where [br]Diogenes tries to explain why he

0:15:56.731,0:15:59.731
put up the wall in the first place

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Mustufu: Yes, hes saying that if there [br]were one or two persons who are lost,

0:16:05.925,0:16:11.749
he could educate them personally, [br]but there are more, many people, [br]

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So he decided to put up this stone.

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So if there were just one or two people[br]who didn't know how to be happy,

0:16:17.286,0:16:20.536
he'd go and talk to them, [br]but because there are so many the best way

0:16:20.536,0:16:25.080
to help them is to actually put up [br]a wall in the middle of the town.

0:16:25.491,0:16:28.561
That's right, that's the explanation[br]he gives here in this part.

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Botton: What a lovely thing to do.[br]Diogenes was acting on a crucial

0:16:35.388,0:16:40.317
idea in Epicurus, that in order to live[br]wisely, it isn't enough just to read a

0:16:40.317,0:16:44.487
philosophical argument once or twice; [br]we need constant reminders

0:16:44.487,0:16:47.929
of it, or we'll forget.[br]When we're encouraged to go shopping

0:16:47.929,0:16:51.601
by bright lights and inviting displays [br]we're quickly liable to lose

0:16:51.601,0:16:53.360
sight of our true desires.[br]

0:16:55.490,0:16:57.200
So we have to counteract the influence

0:16:57.200,0:17:01.912
of advertising by creating advertisements [br]which say what we really do need,

0:17:02.972,0:17:05.933
and that's why Diogenes put up his wall. [br]

0:17:06.353,0:17:09.563
Mustufu: ...and I think this door collapsed then.

0:17:09.563,0:17:10.890
Botton: What is this here?

0:17:10.890,0:17:14.231
Mustufu: This is another very [br]fascinating fragment...

0:17:14.231,0:17:15.955
Narrator: The massive limestone wall [br]originally stood right next

0:17:15.955,0:17:18.725
to the marketplace of the town.[br]

0:17:19.995,0:17:22.455
Inhabitants shopping in the[br]boutiques of Oinoanda

0:17:22.455,0:17:25.605
were warned to expect little [br]happiness from the activity.

0:17:29.166,0:17:33.800
Luxurious food and drinks, says one[br]fragment, in no way protect you from harm;

0:17:36.550,0:17:41.372
wealth beyond what is natural is no more[br]use than an over-flowing container.

0:17:42.077,0:17:47.159
Real value is generated not by [br]theatres and bars, perfumes and ointments,

0:17:47.159,0:17:48.144
but by philosophy.

0:17:53.602,0:17:57.872
The wall may have crumbled into ruin,[br]but movingly the ideas inscribed

0:17:57.874,0:18:00.019
on it retain their life and their relevance.[br]

0:18:01.249,0:18:03.019
Botton: It strikes me as a real[br]paradox really,

0:18:03.019,0:18:05.667
that you would've had where people [br]were doing their shopping,

0:18:05.667,0:18:08.099
they're sort of carrying their shopping,[br]and then on the wall you've got these

0:18:08.099,0:18:12.484
reminders that shopping is [br]not necessarily going to make you happy.

0:18:12.484,0:18:16.875
Mustufu: Yes, the letters of the inscription[br]were red so that everyone could see them...

0:18:16.875,0:18:19.524
Oh right, so it was all written in red?[br]Mustufu: In red yes.

0:18:19.524,0:18:21.950
So you really could have seen it,[br]you could've been at the other side

0:18:21.950,0:18:24.988
of the marketplace and you would’ve [br]seen that there was this kind

0:18:24.988,0:18:28.642
of advertisement almost,[br]for Epicureanism on the wall.

0:18:32.702,0:18:36.121
Botton: It must've been a beautiful spot; [br]I mean to have not only philosophy

0:18:36.121,0:18:41.095
enlightening you but also a fantastic [br]view onto the surrounding countryside.

0:18:41.095,0:18:46.559
I can imagine it would've been easy to be[br]wise, not easy but easier to be wise here.

0:18:47.344,0:18:52.004
I would've done less shopping if[br]I had this wall and this surrounding.

0:18:55.687,0:18:58.217
Botton: It's a pity they didn't do it [br]more, and that they dont do it today,

0:18:58.217,0:19:01.193
I think its a lovely idea.[br]Mustufu: Yes

0:19:05.631,0:19:09.323
Narrator: If Epicurus and his followers had[br]been alive today they wouldn't have been

0:19:09.323,0:19:13.163
sniffy about advertising, they[br]would've enlisted it for their own ends.

0:19:13.653,0:19:16.661
And for the same reason that [br]Diogenes built his wall:

0:19:16.661,0:19:19.835
to counter the constant inducements [br]to go shopping with some

0:19:19.835,0:19:22.492
equal inducements to live philosophically. [br]

0:19:22.492,0:19:25.492
Man: First idea is basically try

0:19:25.492,0:19:29.162
ironic statements like,[br]shop your blues away.

0:19:29.435,0:19:33.431
Narrator: I've come to the kind of place[br]were Epicureans might have turned:

0:19:33.431,0:19:38.395
the offices of the advertising agency [br]St. Lukes, to get ideas for creating some

0:19:38.395,0:19:41.353
modern public reminders of [br]how to live wisely.

0:19:42.081,0:19:46.419
The first idea their creative team[br]came up with was a sarcastic campaign,

0:19:46.419,0:19:48.283
satirising the materialistic messages of [br]most ads.

0:19:48.283,0:19:51.283
Woman: This is really powerful,

0:19:51.283,0:19:54.269
certainly in production terms it takes a[br]number of additions[br]

0:19:54.269,0:19:57.483
but its very very cheap.[br]Man: And then a bit more challenging,

0:19:57.483,0:20:00.873
be happy with shopping, TV and[br]yearly holidays.

0:20:00.873,0:20:04.358
Botton: Right, I love that, that really [br]does sum it all up, doesn't it?

0:20:04.358,0:20:10.899
Man: I thought this was the strongest- [br]fill the void in your life with a product

0:20:10.899,0:20:15.246
Botton: And youd have shops advertising,[br]shops selling these kind of products

0:20:15.246,0:20:18.607
and then this stark reminder that [br]perhaps it's not really

0:20:18.607,0:20:20.461
going to fill any void.

0:20:20.461,0:20:21.461
Its brilliant, thank you Steve.[br]

0:20:22.151,0:20:23.140
Man: The most obvious idea was just

0:20:23.140,0:20:30.475
to take luxury items and goods and [br]somehow undermine them or show them

0:20:30.475,0:20:36.213
for being a bit shallow or a [br]bit kind of, empty inside.

0:20:36.213,0:20:44.241
The best example we've got is something[br]like this, just taking a lovely image of a

0:20:44.241,0:20:50.042
beautiful house and just using the[br]language of advertising,

0:20:50.042,0:20:54.433
the caveat is, batteries not included, and[br]just changing it to happiness not included.

0:20:54.845,0:20:57.705
Botton: Right, I really like that,[br]in a way that says it all doesn't it?

0:20:57.705,0:21:00.767
It says, it keeps that subtlety[br]of Epicureanism, which is,

0:21:00.767,0:21:03.718
you could be happy in a house like that,[br]but it's not included.

0:21:03.961,0:21:08.418
It's not saying that you won't be happy in[br]that house, which would be sort of Marxism,

0:21:08.418,0:21:11.172
it's just saying it's not included [br]so you better watch out before

0:21:11.172,0:21:13.366
you spend all your energies [br]trying to get this house.

0:21:32.303,0:21:36.407
Narrator: Unfortunately philosophers have rarely[br]had much money for advertising campaigns,

0:21:36.647,0:21:40.355
but imagine a world where instead[br]of being surrounded by adverts

0:21:40.355,0:21:45.263
selling you watches, cars or fancy holidays.[br]these ads remind you of how important

0:21:45.263,0:21:49.818
it is to value friends to escape [br]the rat race or reflect on your problems

0:21:50.358,0:21:55.855
and didn't just use these genuinely nice[br]things to sell you aftershave or aperitifs.

0:21:57.322,0:22:00.119
It's hard to know whether[br]the people of Oinoanda

0:22:00.119,0:22:04.182
discovered what they did need and ceased [br]buying what they didn't because of a

0:22:04.182,0:22:06.099
giant advertisement in their midst.

0:22:06.638,0:22:10.970
But Epicurus' central message seems,[br]if anything, more relevant to today's

0:22:10.970,0:22:15.046
consumer society than it did to his own,[br]and theres no reason to believe

0:22:15.046,0:22:18.931
that happiness is any more included in the[br]many more things we can buy.

0:22:20.075,0:22:23.780
Of course, putting up one poster [br]in the Trafford centre in Manchester

0:22:23.780,0:22:27.244
couldn't on its own turn back [br]the tide of consumerism and,

0:22:27.244,0:22:30.928
although shoppers seemed interested [br]in what my ad was trying to say,

0:22:30.928,0:22:34.166
I didn't see much evidence of[br]people stopping shopping.

0:22:35.131,0:22:38.263
But the fact remains,[br]we're horribly confused about[br]

0:22:38.263,0:22:41.991
what could make us happy, [br]if we really knew what we needed[br]

0:22:41.991,0:22:44.785
there are few things we'd [br]be desperate to buy.

0:22:47.853,0:22:51.617
Botton: Epicurus makes us think very [br]carefully about the merits of our own society,

0:22:51.617,0:22:54.864
of course these societies are enormously[br]wealthy, we can buy almost anything

0:22:54.864,0:22:58.159
we want in a place like this, full[br]of colourful shops selling wonderfully

0:22:58.159,0:23:01.831
well produced goods, and[br]yet what Epicurus wants us to think is,[br]

0:23:01.831,0:23:06.666
do places like this really provide[br]us with the key ingredients of happiness,

0:23:06.666,0:23:09.552
and he thought, and I think he was right,[br]that they don't.

0:23:10.694,0:23:14.453
Happiness may be difficult to attain, [br]Epicurus admitted that,

0:23:14.453,0:23:18.400
but he insisted that the obstacles [br]are not primarily financial.