The first time I heard of this unfamiliar word was when I watched one of my favorite movies, Lucky Number Slevin. It’s a movie about a guy who takes revenge over the murder of his both parents to the two multi-billionaire
Minutes before his mission was executed, his girlfriend asked “How come you’re so calm about all this? You’re dealing with
And the guy responded, “I have ataraxia”
For a moment, I thought it was some kind of an eating disorder like anorexia. But then the guy explained, “It’s a tendency to not take things too seriously.”
According to wikipedia, Ataraxia is the Greek term for ‘freedom from worries’. It is a philosophy founded by Epicurus, a Stoic philosopher who’s known for his philosophy of pleasure. He was the one who defined ‘great pleasure’ as ‘Hedon.’-the word that now we use to call the people who live to party and have fun.
Anyway.......
Remembering my most favorite ataraxic guy, Slevin Kelevra (Josh Harnett, in the movie Lucky Number Slevin), I think the ataraxic people perform these similar symptoms :
Not taking things too seriously. Avoid complexity. And always think they can handle anything.
Complexity is one of the major things that they avoid in life. They cherish simplicity more than anything else.
Hmm…
“Ignorance is the assassination of soul”, my teacher once said.
but then again, "Ignorance IS bliss" ;P
