Eikas

In his final will, Epicurus left provisions and instructions related to holding a monthly feast of reason and pleasure, where Epicureans would enjoy each other’s company while eating delicacies and studying philosophy. This Epicurean feast is traditionally celebrated on the 20th of each month and is meant to honor the memory of Epicureans who came before us, to study them, and to transmit to future generations this noble wisdom tradition through the cultivation of friendships and through sincere study. Eikas is a memorial service: it’s about preserving the memory of the original Garden and its doctrines.

Today, thanks to the internet, this tradition has taken the form of monthly essays and Eikas gatherings via zoom. For Luis Granados, the 20th is a more private and intimate alternative to the atheistic churches that have become fashionable and follow a rather ecclesiastical, congregational model to create community, which he considers impersonal. The Twentieth should be interpersonal, celebrated with an intimate society of good friends by meleta-ing and enjoying fine (even if simple) foods.

An Eikas Manifesto: A Clarion Call to Revive an Epicurean Tradition that Strengthens Friendships and Communities

How to Eikas (PDF)

The current consensus at SoFE is that Eikas must incorporate three elements:

  1. it must occur either on the Twentieth or on the most advantageous date close to it, as agreed by the members of that particular Koinonia–what we call “The Event”,
  2. it must honor in some way the memory of Metrodorus of Lampsacus and Epicurus of Samos, as well as (why not?) that of other Epicureans after them, and of our own Epicurean friends who are gone. This we call “The Libation”, usually a toast in memory of the First Guides, and
  3. it must include some specifically Epicurean educational content, which allows participants to practice both philia (friendship) and philosophy. This is what we at SoFE call “The Program”, or “Eikas Program”, and it’s how we remember the Hegemon’s Doctrines.

SoFE’s Video Recordings of Past Eikas Events

January 2022 – On Moral Development
February 2022 – Coping with Loss and Mortality
March 2022 – Friendship, A Divine Good
April 2022 – Parrhesia, the Practice of Frank Criticism
June 2022 – Issues in Epicurean Friendship: Marriage and Sex
July 2022 – The Women of the Epicurean Garden
August 2022 – Philodemus on Property Management and On Wealth
September 2022 – Guidance of the Soul in Epicureanism
October 2022 – Epicurean Adherence and Path to Wisdom

SoFE’s Eikas Updates and Essays Archive

February 2024 – Liber Qvintvs: That All Should Have Compassion on the Weak

January 2024 – Some thoughts on relativism and KD 39

December 2023 – Study guide for the canon

November 2023 – The Fourth Element of the Soul

October 2023 – Book Review of How one can be a god

September 2023 – Five Contemplations on the Gods

August 2023 – Four Methods of Exegesis for the Study of Kyriai Doxai

July 2023 – Convergent Evolution and the Doctrine of the Innumerable Worlds

June 2023 – Phonás Aphientas: “Scattered Words” and Language Reform

May 2023 – The True Heresy: Haereseos

April 2023 – Liber Sextvs, on Harmful Beliefs

March 2023 – Book Review of Epicurean Philosophy: An introduction from the “Garden of Athens”

February 2023 – Lucian’s 10 Assertions on Kyriai Doxai

January 2023 – Liber Tertivs: On the Nature of the Soul

December 2022 – Nietzsche and Kyria Doxa 14

November 2022 – Mahsa Amini: the new Iphianassa

October 2022 – Eikas and Ancestor Reverence

September 2022 – 22 Excellent Books on Empedocles

August 2022 – The Lucretian Parable of the Alphabet

July 2022 – Epicurean Gratitude Prayer

June 2022 – On the Nature of Rights

May 2022 – Principal Doctrine 22: Enargeia and Epilogismos

April 2022 – On Philosophy as an Antidote to Disinformation

March 2022 – Moral Clarity in the Midst of Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

February 2022 – Some Thoughts on the High Holidays

January 2022 – Philosophy as Self-Care

December 2021 – The Method of Multiple Explanations

November 2021 – On Language, Creativity, and Power

October 2021 – Prometheus Unbound

September 2021 – On “Love Your Neighbor”

August 2021 – Venus Over Mars

July 2021 – Liber Qvintvs

June 2021 – Studying the Canon

May 2021 – On the Intersection Between Science Fiction and Epicurean Philosophy

April 2021 – On Conversation

March 2021 – Some Thoughts on the Soul

February 2021 – On the Occasion of the Birth of the Hegemon

January 2021 – Parables of the Hunter and Isle of the Blessed

December 2020 – On Sentience

November 2020 – On Methods of Exegesis

October – Cosmos 3.3

September – On the misfortune of the wise and the prosperity of the fool

August – On Polyvalent Logic

July – “The Covenant of the Sacred Festival Table”

June – On Why Black Lives Do Indeed Matter

May 2020 – The Epicurean Dude

April 2020 – The Ethics of a Quarantine

March 2020 – Did Epicurus Practice Intermittent Fasting?

February 2020 – Armed for Happiness

January 2020 – Back to the Basics II

Deccember 2019 – On Autarchy

November 2019 – Philodemus On Arrogance

October 2019 – In Defense of Eudaimonia

September 2019 – On Anticipations

August 2019 – On the Importance of Healthy Emotions

July 2019 – In Memory of the Men

June 2019 – On the Mind-Body Split / Newsletter

May 2019 – PD 11-13 versus the Qur’an / Newsletter

April 2019 – The Black Hole

March 2019 – Anticipating Fortune

February 2019 – On Epicurean Economics

January 2019 – The Year of the Pig

December 2018 – Happy Humanlight!

November 2018 – Traveling with Epicurus

October 2018 – Lila: Reclaiming Religion as Pleasure

September 2018 – Antiquity Has Never Felt So Alive!

August 2018 – What’s Wrong with Pleasure?

July 2018 – O Fortuna! 

June 2018 – Lucian’s Aerial Expedition

May 2018 – Back to the Basics: the Ethics

April 2018 – The Pleasure of Knowledge

March 2018 – Some Essays and Updates

January 2018 – On Lucretius and Kingship

December 2017 – The Epicureans and the Original Jedi

November 2017 – The Uncuttables

October 2017 – Imagine No Religion!

September 2017 – Epicureans in the Lotus 

July 2017 – Pale Blue Dot

June 2017 – The Havamal on Isolation

May 2017 – The Pauline War on “Peace and Safety”

April 2017 – In Defense of Pleasure

March 2017 – Lucretius on Iron and War

February 2017 – On Nature’s Alphabet

January 2017 – Each One Teach One

December 2016 – Epicurus on Gratitude

November 2016 – Shall We Banish the Ego?

October 2016 – Goal of True Spiritual Practice is Pleasure

September 2016 – On Passing By

August 2016 – Woodland Aborigines Invent Music and Dance

July 2016 – This May Have Happened in the Great All

June 2016 – Neural Pathways in Lucretius’ DRN

May 2016 – Better Be A Subject and at Peace

April 2016 – The Well-Walled Fortress of the Wise

March 2016 – The Punctured Jar Parable

Older Essays

Also, here you will find a list of past issues of the old Happy 20th bulletin.

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