A Third Epicurean Gathering

Last night at the Memorial (Unitarian) Church we held our third Epicurean Gathering, as part of an ongoing experiment in how one might actually engage in some active form of Epicurean life in the present day rather than just talk about it in an academic, detached fashion. There's a lot of talk "out there" about the relevance of Epicurus/Lucretius's philosophy - much of it excellent - but there seems to be a paucity of models available to help people into an actual practice among a community of like-minded people. This is just one experimental possibility - please feel free to use this if it's helpful in anyway and/or to let me know of any other similar projects on the go.

I have added below a further tidied up liturgy (mostly just making it typographically clearer than earlier versions), a link to the introductory text that sets has been setting our conversation off and a link to the short mindfulness meditation by Judith Day that we have been using.

Below these are links to earlier blogposts about the history of this little experiments and to earlier events and, lastly, below you will find some additional links to various helpful sites/books/podcasts.

[Note 20th February 2020—the original link to the liturgy below is dead but here is a link to the  version I and two other members of the congregation put together in 2016]  

Here's a link to the current liturgy (June 2014) 

Here's a link to the mindfulness meditation by Judith Day that we used (track 3) 

Introduction to Epicurus by D. S. Hutchinson

Earlier blog posts:

A second "Epicurean Gathering" and a little bit of it's history

An Epicurean Gathering and a cycle and walk along the Roman Road with Epicurus and Lucretius in my bag

An, as yet, only imagined Epicurean Gathering to meditate, to philosophise, and to eat together

A good, general web resource

Epicurean Philosophy Online

Translations of Epicurus' and/or Lucretius:

Epicurus: The Art of Happiness (trans. George K. Strodach)

Epicurus Reader (trans. Brad Inwood and L. P. Gerson)

My preferred modern translation by David R. Slavitt of Lucretius' "De Rerum Natura" (On the Nature of Things)

Two recent, helpful, popular and entertaining, introductory texts:

Reclaiming Epicurus by Luke Slattery

Travels with Epicurus by Daniel Klein

And lastly a couple of audio links:

A BBC Radio 4 "In Our Time" programme on Epicurianism

Stephen Greenblatt on Lucretius for the New Yorker