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.
The current consensus at SoFE is that Eikas must incorporate three elements:
- 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”,
- 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
- 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
October 2024 – Update and Commentary on Colotes of Lampsacus
September 2024 – Upar and Onar: On Correct and Incorrect Activity and Rest
August 2024 – The Activities of Vatican Saying 41
July 2024 – Comparing Syggenis Hedone and Buddha-garbha
June 2024 – Commentary on Innate Pleasure: “Syggenis Hedone” as a Salvific Doctrine
May 2024 – Lie-zi’s Garden of Pleasure and Yang Chu on Non-Violence: We Are Bodies
April 2024 – Book Review: “The Many Lives of Yang Zhu”
March 2024 – Book Review: Alpha God
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
Also, here you will find a list of past issues of the old Happy 20th bulletin.
