Hiram
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Hi. My name is Hiram Crespo and I'm currently about halfway through the book FL Millionaire and decided to join the forum. I'm the author of Tending the Epicurean Garden (Humanist Press, 2014), founder of societyofepicurus.com, and a bilingual (Spanish-English) blogger in various outlets. For the last six years, I've been promoting Epicurean philosophy, which includes an ethics of rational, calculated, refined pleasure.
One aspect of EP is known as autarchy (self-sufficiency, self-governing, just as monarchy means government of one and oligarchy means government of a few). It's this aspect of the philosophy that has brought me to this forum, because it involves Epicurean economics, and this year I've decided that I will focus on exploring Epicurean economics more in depth.
The main ancient source for Epicurean autarchy and economics is a scroll written by Philodemus of Gadara (who taught philosophy to wealthy Romans in the villa of Herculaneum in the first century) "On the Art of Property Management", which advises owning means of production, delegating tasks, having multiple streams of income, and includes real estate (living off the rent paid by others) and a few other ideas as ways to secure a life of leisure and pleasure. When I read the scroll, I came out with seven rough principles of autarchy that Philodemus discussed, and rather than bore you with the details I'll share them, as they serve as a summary of the scroll and you will see how much they resonate with FL Millionaire (this is + 2,000-year-old Epicurean wisdom):
So I'm very interested in bringing this 2,300 year old wisdom tradition into a modern context, re-igniting the autarchy conversations with a modern audience, and will be focusing on creating content around Epicurean economics going forward.
As for my own experiments in autarchy, I've begun to delve into angel investments, I'm monetizing my websites and have written and translated a few books, mostly related to Epicurean philosophy. I'm building a niche, and have found that publications are often willing to pay for your content if you become the expert in a particular field. I'm interested in writing a book re: Epicurean economics, but want to engage in various economic and business experiments before I do that. So I'm here to learn from others and to build on what I'm learning from De Marco's book. My immediate interest is in capitalizing the platform that I already have, but also will eventually expand my platform as I grow.
One aspect of EP is known as autarchy (self-sufficiency, self-governing, just as monarchy means government of one and oligarchy means government of a few). It's this aspect of the philosophy that has brought me to this forum, because it involves Epicurean economics, and this year I've decided that I will focus on exploring Epicurean economics more in depth.
The main ancient source for Epicurean autarchy and economics is a scroll written by Philodemus of Gadara (who taught philosophy to wealthy Romans in the villa of Herculaneum in the first century) "On the Art of Property Management", which advises owning means of production, delegating tasks, having multiple streams of income, and includes real estate (living off the rent paid by others) and a few other ideas as ways to secure a life of leisure and pleasure. When I read the scroll, I came out with seven rough principles of autarchy that Philodemus discussed, and rather than bore you with the details I'll share them, as they serve as a summary of the scroll and you will see how much they resonate with FL Millionaire (this is + 2,000-year-old Epicurean wisdom):
1. There is a natural measure of wealth (as opposed to the corrupt, cultural measure of wealth), which is tied to natural and necessary desires. Understanding this will provide us with serenity and indifference to profit and loss.
2. There is social wealth in addition to the wealth of things and possessions. (One study showed that one happy friend adds as much happiness as $ 20,000)
3. Philodemus plainly stated it: the philosopher does not toil. However, we must always remember that toil is evil, not productivity.
4. Association is important in labor. We must choose our company prudently.
5. Our revenue must more than meet our immediate needs: it must facilitate a dignified life of leisure.
6. It’s always prudent to cultivate multiple streams of income, among which deriving fees from teaching philosophy, rental property income and business ownership have special priority.
7. It’s also prudent to have fruitful possessions. The various forms of ownership of means of production is another way to independence that can potentially relieve us of toil.
2. There is social wealth in addition to the wealth of things and possessions. (One study showed that one happy friend adds as much happiness as $ 20,000)
3. Philodemus plainly stated it: the philosopher does not toil. However, we must always remember that toil is evil, not productivity.
4. Association is important in labor. We must choose our company prudently.
5. Our revenue must more than meet our immediate needs: it must facilitate a dignified life of leisure.
6. It’s always prudent to cultivate multiple streams of income, among which deriving fees from teaching philosophy, rental property income and business ownership have special priority.
7. It’s also prudent to have fruitful possessions. The various forms of ownership of means of production is another way to independence that can potentially relieve us of toil.
So I'm very interested in bringing this 2,300 year old wisdom tradition into a modern context, re-igniting the autarchy conversations with a modern audience, and will be focusing on creating content around Epicurean economics going forward.
As for my own experiments in autarchy, I've begun to delve into angel investments, I'm monetizing my websites and have written and translated a few books, mostly related to Epicurean philosophy. I'm building a niche, and have found that publications are often willing to pay for your content if you become the expert in a particular field. I'm interested in writing a book re: Epicurean economics, but want to engage in various economic and business experiments before I do that. So I'm here to learn from others and to build on what I'm learning from De Marco's book. My immediate interest is in capitalizing the platform that I already have, but also will eventually expand my platform as I grow.
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