The Epicurean Gospel: Pleasure Without Purpose

Ecclesiastes 1:22 presents a seductive philosophy: "There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works." This worldly counsel recommends seizing pleasure wherever found—beauty, wine, song—extracting maximum enjoyment before death arrives. The Preacher calls this the Epicurean gospel, named after the Greek philosopher Epicurus, though the impulse predates him as old as human nature itself.

Epicurus systematized sensuality into philosophy, reducing life to the gratification of appetite. Yet even cultivated minds cannot rest content with unmixed animalism. A sense of dignity—awakened by thought—protests and rebels against such degradation. Men of refinement therefore dress their pleasures in the garments of art and science, believing this qualifies their grossness.

Consider King Charles II: his evenings dissolved into revelry, yet his mornings occupied themselves with chemical experiments and scientific research. The man of cultivation and refinement flickered within those scenes of excess—urbane, kindly, moderate even—never descending into the extremes that injure health or inspire disgust.

Yet such refinement cannot redeem Epicureanism from reproach. The philosophy remains earthly and of the senses, making much of the animal element in our nature, living intoxicated with the outward and visible. Without anchoring joy in Elohim's eternal purposes, even the most elegant pleasure-seeking becomes vanity—a chasing after wind.