Epicurus’ reflection that works as a daily mantra: “To be happy is for it not to hurt”

For philosopher Darío Sztajnszrajber, philosophy offers a way to step outside the relentless demand to make every moment useful. In an interview with LA NACION, he said the discipline has a therapeutic value because it creates distance from daily pressures and the imperative of productivity.

He questioned a view of life in which every step must generate profit, gain or accumulation. “There is something in that performance, performance as profitability, where every step we take has to be used, generate a gain, produce some kind of accumulation,” he said. Sztajnszrajber added that this may be one way to think about life, but it does not speak to him as much as other possibilities do.

He argued that philosophy challenges commonplaces and opens more sensitive, critical perspectives on a predictable reality. When happiness or love gets understood through utility and planning, he said, “something is lost.” The pressure to become a particular kind of productive person can obscure parts of existence that cannot be measured through results.

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There is something in that performance, performance as profitability, where every step we take has to be used, generate a gain, produce some kind of accumulation.

Sztajnszrajber turned to Epicurus to explain his view of happiness. Epicurus defined it as ataraxia, or the imperturbability of the soul, a state in which little can pull a person away from inner peace and tranquility. The philosopher also linked disturbance to dependencies and to what he called “false infinites,” the idea that things will last forever.

In this reading, even romantic relationships and possessions can become sources of anxiety when people become dependent on them or fear their loss. Epicurus associated happiness with simple pleasures and the avoidance of pain. Sztajnszrajber summed up the idea this way: “Epicurus said, flee from pain, seek pleasure. Even if there is a contradiction between the two, to be happy is for it not to hurt.” He also warned that life is too short to be configured entirely around usefulness and accumulation.

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Epicurus said, flee from pain, seek pleasure. Even if there is a contradiction between the two, to be happy is for it not to hurt.