Epicureans: The first atheists
Epicureans were materialists: They believed the world consisted only of atoms. There were no gods, spirits, or souls, no afterlife or immortality.
In the world of Epicureans, all there is to life is to get as much pleasure as possible and to avoid pain. The concern was with the higher pleasures of the mind. Pleasure does not come from pointless indulging but from decreasing desire to the bare minimum necessary to live.
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