Editing Meaning of life (section)

====Epicureanism====
{{Main|Epicureanism}}

[[File:Agostino Scilla. The philosopher Epicurus.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Epicurus]] by Agostino Scilla, circa 1670–1680. The philosopher holds a text that reads "whatever you do, do wisely and think of consequences"]]
[[Epicurus]], a pupil of the Platonist Pamphilus of Samos, taught that the greatest good is in seeking modest pleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom from fear ([[ataraxia]]) via knowledge, friendship, and virtuous, temperate living; bodily pain ([[aponia]]) is absent through one's knowledge of the workings of the world and of the limits of one's desires. Combined, freedom from pain and freedom from fear are happiness in its highest form. Epicurus' lauded enjoyment of simple pleasures is quasi-ascetic "abstention" from sex and the appetites:
<blockquote>"When we say ... that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do, by some, through ignorance, prejudice or willful misrepresentation. By pleasure, we mean the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not by an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not by sexual lust, nor the enjoyment of fish, and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of the soul."<ref>[[Epicurus]], "Letter to Menoeceus", contained in Diogenes Laertius, ''Lives of Eminent Philosophers'', Book X.</ref></blockquote>

The Epicurean meaning of life rejects immortality and mysticism; there is a soul, but it is as mortal as the body. There is no [[afterlife]], yet, one need not fear death, because "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us."<ref name="Russel">[[Bertrand Russell]] (1946). ''[[History of Western Philosophy (Russell)|A History of Western Philosophy]]'', New York: Simon and Schuster; London: George Allen and Unwin.</ref>