#eudaimonia

Greek terracotta pyxis (box) depicting an Athenian lady with Aphrodite and her companions Peitho (Persuasion), Hygeia (Health), Eudaimonia (Good Fortune), Eukleia (Good Repute), Eunomia (Good Order), and Paidia (Play). The box propably served as a wedding gift.

420 - 410 BCE, Meidias Painter

The virtue ethics of consumption looks at consumer behavior not only in terms of rules (deontology) or outcomes (utilitarianism) but in terms of character: what kind of person we become through the way we consume.

1. Core Idea

Virtue ethics, rooted in Aristotle, asks: What virtues (good character traits) should guide our lives? Applied to consumption, it asks: What does the way I buy, use, and dispose of goods say about the kind of person I am? Am I cultivating virtues or vices through my consumer choices?

2. Virtues in Consumption

Some virtues often discussed in this context:

Temperance (moderation): Resisting overconsumption, impulse buying, and greed.

Justice: Supporting fair trade, labor rights, and equitable systems.

Practical Wisdom (phronesis): Making thoughtful, context-sensitive choices about what to consume.

Courage: Resisting social pressure to conform to consumerist culture.

Sustainability / Care: Respecting the environment, caring for future generations.

Gratitude: Appreciating goods without constant craving for more.

3. Vices of Consumption

Greed: Wanting more than is necessary.

Wastefulness: Disposing of usable goods carelessly.

Vanity: Consuming primarily to show off status.

Apathy: Ignoring the ethical or environmental impact of consumption.

4. Why This Matters

Unlike other ethical theories, virtue ethics doesn’t just ask “Is my purchase right or wrong?” but “Am I becoming more virtuous or more vicious through how I consume?” For example:

Buying fast fashion cheaply may be convenient, but does it cultivate thoughtlessness and disregard for labor exploitation?

Choosing durable, fair-trade goods may be more expensive, but does it cultivate justice and responsibility?

5. In Short

Issue 11

“Eudaimonia” means “the good life”, not just contentment but a deeper and more complex state of being. This is one chapter of a series that explores different aspects of the concept.

read the whole series here! or catch up on the tag

Growing up, I watched a lot of Disney movies. I watched princesses who were soft, kind, misunderstood, but always chosen, always found, always saved. There was always a Prince Charming, someone who arrived at the right time, said the right things, and made everything fall into place. And even if I didn’t consciously believe it, a part of me internalized that story. That love would come, that it would feel right, that it would soothe everything restless inside me.

For most of my life, I believed quietly that love would steady me, that somewhere, someone existed who would understand me deeply enough, meet me fully enough, and stay consistent enough that something inside me would finally quiet down. That I would feel less overwhelmed by my own mind, less intense in my emotions, less aware of everything all at once. Because I’ve always been that kind of person. I feel deeply, I think deeply, I analyze, reflect, and question everything. And I don’t see that as a flaw. That is how I make meaning, that is how I grow. So I thought love would be the place where all of that would finally make sense, where I would feel seen, met, settled. But reality is not a fairy tale.

At some point, through experience, through discomfort, through moments I couldn’t ignore anymore, I realized something that shifted everything. There is no one coming to save me. No Prince Charming, no perfect counterpart, no person capable of carrying my inner world for me. People have limits, love has conditions, everyone is dealing with something I cannot see. And sometimes, the person I once imagined as “the one” is simply another human being trying to manage their own life, their own struggles, their own limitations.

That realization didn’t come with drama. It came quietly, a kind of grounded disappointment, the kind that doesn’t break me but sobers me. Because it removes the illusion of rescue and forces me to face something much more honest. No one is responsible for my emotional stability, and no one is capable of fully holding it for me. And once I saw that clearly, I couldn’t go back to the fantasy.

For a moment, that truth felt heavy because it meant letting go of something comforting, the idea that somewhere out there, someone could make everything feel okay. But almost immediately after that disappointment came something else, a sense of responsibility, and strangely, a sense of power.

I began to understand that what I had been looking for externally was something I had to build internally. Not through control, not through perfection, but through discipline.

Detachment started to make sense to me in a completely different way. Not as coldness, not as distance, but as clarity. As the understanding that everything outside of me, people, relationships, timing, outcomes, is inherently unstable. Temporary, unpredictable, not mine to control. And because of that, I cannot build my emotional foundation on it. I cannot depend on it to keep me steady.

So the question changed. From what do I need from the world to feel okay, to what do I need to become so I can hold myself steady regardless of what the world does. And that question is not comfortable. It doesn’t give immediate relief, it doesn’t offer softness, but it is honest.

This path is not easy. It asks me to sit with discomfort instead of escaping it, to feel without immediately reacting, to pause before I speak, before I act, before I project meaning onto things I cannot control. It asks for restraint, for awareness, for discipline, again and again, until it becomes who I am.

And the more I think about it, the more I realize this isn’t just about relationships. It’s about everything. Money, success, validation, romance, all the things people chase believing they will finally feel complete. But none of them are stable, none of them last, none of them can carry the weight we expect them to carry.

Maybe this is where my beliefs come in. Maybe this is where Buddhism resonates so deeply with me. The idea that attachment creates suffering, that everything is impermanent, that chasing external fulfillment will always leave me grasping for more. And maybe this is also where philosophy, Stoicism, eudaimonia, grounds me. The idea that a meaningful life is not built on pleasure or ease, but on virtue, discipline, and alignment with who I choose to be.

I don’t want a life that is just happy. I want a life that is intentional. A life where I am in control of my actions, my words, my responses, a life where I do not harm others out of impulse or emotional instability, a life where I can trust myself, even in discomfort, even in uncertainty.

At the end of the day, I have to face the truth. No one is coming to save me. And that is not something to fear, it is something to accept. Because once I accept it fully, I stop waiting. I stop expecting the world to organize itself in a way that makes me feel safe. I stop outsourcing my peace.

I become responsible for myself, for my emotions, for my reactions, for the way I choose to live.

I am not a damsel in distress. I do not need to be rescued. If anything, the most important thing I can learn in this life is how to rescue myself.

Not in a dramatic way, but quietly, daily, through discipline, through awareness, through choosing, again and again, to return to myself.

Because maybe that’s the real version of the story. Not a prince who arrives, but a person who becomes.

mindfulminion.com

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Duality and oneness in identity