Hey, what’s good? — no, for real, what’s Goodness?
How do I determine what the meaning of good is?
Good that, good this, good family, good kids —
How do I define it and what kind of life’s good to live?

Good question — it’s been asked before
By philosophers of ethics and by authors of lore,
And by existential rappers when they’re anxious or bored —
Am I doing what’s good? Should I be doing more?

Some ask the Lord — but some others may feel
A theologic form of Goodness kinda doesn’t congeal
With the scientific vibe of what’s observably real —
For to what is unknown, there’s no need to kneel.

And what’s known is that we’re atoms
That have smashed into patterns
And we’re the random interactions
Of the accident matter is,
And the chance that it’s happened
That I act and exist
Doesn’t lead to any facts
About what happiness is.

— But if matter just is what it is, with no purpose,
Then what good is justice, or virtuous service?
This view is current — but it has its precursors,
For instance the 3rd Century Greek Epicurus.

Epicurus held that everything is atoms and void,
And you and everyone you know are merely atoms conjoined —
There’s no immortal soul — so all you have is a choice:
Are you gonna be sad, or would you rather enjoy it?

What’s good? Whatever — the Highest Good is Pleasure.
You want to get get high, live the high life? whatever.
You want to live outside and be a hermit? whatever.
Everything’s permitted if it furnishes Pleasure.

But pleasure’s defined
By the absence of pain —
It’s a balance, a game —
So don’t go out of your lane
With that addictive and erratic shit
That rattles your brain —
The richest of pleasures
Are simple and plain.

And when I look at this now,
I think how simple it’d be if I
Let my ego settle down
And if I quit social media —
And then be sleepin more sound,
And be seizin’ the day —
I bet if he could see me now,
That Epicurus would say:

[Refrain:]
Stop fuckin’ around with this bullshit,
Stop obsessing over followers and views —
Stop all this fixating,
All this every-moment waiting
On a future vision of a famous you —
You’re an aggregate of atoms and it isn’t that grand
If those atoms have an active or inactive Instagram —
You don’t have to give a damn — you can feel your inner freedom —
Peace — be at ease — be an Epicurean.

If you simplify your shit, then you can still get around —
You can still get by,
And slip from the tie by which the world’s bound —
And these processes that are not ecologically sound,
You could stop —
Right now.

Get rid of all
Shit that involves
Gettin withdrawals,
Get with the pulse —
Give it a pause,
Limit applause,
If it’ll cause
Critical flaws.
Live for embrace of the petals that fall,
Step at a pace of content and recall
That gain is ephemeral,
Fetid and small —
And Pleasure is all.

It isn’t a matter of mastering matter,
It’s rather that matter matters,
That’s how the atoms swerve —
…And if you ask for the answer —
It’s all Love:
Don’t give a bad serve.

It’s that it’s wrong to slip off to space
Just because you’re the richest dude in the whole human race,
It’s just kind of waste — and if the waste costs the pain
Of your fellow human beings, Epicurus would be sayin’ —

[Refrain:]
Stop fuckin’ around with this bullshit,
Stop obsessing over hauling all the loot —
Stop this inhumane and
Idiotic gettin gain
And gettin’ rich as if there’s nothing else to do —
Get enough to not die and if enough’s not there,
Just remember that you’re atoms that are bumpin in the air —
Why become a billionaire? Be a humble human bein’ —
Live in balance, have no care — be an Epicurean.

I’m not here to judge —
One judges at pain
Of being judged by everybody
When you fudge it the same.
And I’m not here to say
There’s no soul in here,
For that indeed may be the thing
That makes the atoms cohere.
And while I don’t know clear
How God might fit in —
Epicurus said the gods exist but not as our friends —
I guess God is good
In the sense that the end
Of every pleasure lets another kind divinely begin.

[Refrain:]
Stop fuckin’ around with this bullshit,
Stop perceiving what you have as not enough —
Stop basing your actions
On your fears and your abstractions —
Give no fucks but then instead of them give Love —
It’s really not a question of What does it all mean,
As, Do you feel the Presence and the pleasure of your being,
As you let go of your shit and focus on your breathin’ —
It’s time for you to live: be an Epicurean.