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Hmmmmm.... I am happier now that I do not have sex than when I was having lots of sex.
Then again, I have always been one to swim against the tide.
If I am unhappy it is because I lost my husband and there will never be one like him. I am also unhappy about all the things I have to deal with, mainly houses, and all the things that go with owning them.
Well, the gross example would be rape, or robbery, or murder. But there are far more prevalent examples of a less obvious and harmful nature. The ways we humans can think up to extract pleasure for ourselves by harming someone else are endless. And most of them are both legal and socially acceptable.
I don't think pleasure is bad, as long as it is not achieved from something that is not good.
That's the most creative answer yet, A+, Five stars, The Golden ticket to you, sir! But I just want to say I don't think pleasure is bad in and of itself. I'm looking for the reasons people believe pleasure, with the not pissed off meaning, is bad, wrong, should not be tolerated. I want to argue in my writings why that sentiment, and the teatoter sentiment, is entirely wrong but moderated and balanced approach to pleasure is entirely right!
There is nothing innately wrong with pleasure. However, when we choose pleasure at the detriment to our own well being or at the expense of someone else, THEN it becomes wrong. But heck, I for one really enjoy a good meal in the company of family and friends -- a wonderful pleasure.
Yes, but please note where everyone's mind went when they thought of pleasure. I think that is rather sad.
Former Christian here. That religion had some unusual things to say about pleasure. You're expected to please God, not yourself. You can't please God without faith, so you should have it. And sin displeases God, so don't do it. Living a pious life and earning heavenly bliss are the pleasure you are expected to pursue.
Because the unsubtle Procrustean regulation, restriction and codification of access to the things that people need and want is the most obvious way to manage resources, social expectations, inheritance and reproduction. It is also the most ham-fisted, which is unsurprising as most religions are borne of societal dilemmas and ignorance. As opposed to the hard won knowledge and lessons accrued from millennia of said religious mismanagement.
Yeah, it's bad to avoid what you like. You can only do it incrementally. Do it too much and you'll be unhappy. Do too much of what you like, you'll be unhappy and eventually won't like it anymore. So have a variety of Earthly things and experiences, take them in and remember them later being thankful. That'll make you lastingly happier, it'll give you wellbeing.
I think you're unfamiliar with what came before monotheism then.
I responded to your topic on why religions try to cast pleasure as bad. But now you are talking about personal strategies for managing one's own happiness. Those are two entirely different things with entirely different goals.
I will take your word for it that that is a thing that you think. I however, do not think that.
It’s not that sense-pleasures are bad. In fact, to a degree, they are vital to a mentally healthy life.
What are sense pleasures? What makes them different from other pleasures? What are some other kinds of pleasures in this category?
I think both Earthly stuffs and that less so are more or less required for people to live the happiest lives they can because I heard that from a class on Coursera by Yale called The Science of Wellbeing
That's a big can. Sometimes, you'll find, men aren't afraid to be who they are, monkeys: a great virtue. See now monkeys all get high when they can, even on alcohol. And they learn to not as they age. They are perfectly fine doing that because there is a natural regulation to keep them not dying. Eventually, they have one last banger and are sick of it. Or there not interacting with humans, and they still get high when they can. Like basically all the animals in a certain African savannah where the creatures all get drunk off of fermented Marula fruit once a year. There there's some kind of natural regulation, time, before the next banger. In fact, more than enough time to recover. SO it's not really a problem because their body heals. Or like dolphins getting high off of puffer fish venom. Or lemurs off of millipede venom. There's some natural regulation to it, it's not a plentiful source where you ingest every moment of the day. Unlike those firstly mentioned monkeys. But there there is natural regulation to help the monkeys survive!
Hope you have a wonderful day, Salix!
Any sort of pleasure brought on by the 5 senses/sense organs.
I'm not sure what the "other pleasures" are.
Any sort of pleasure brought on by the 5 senses/sense organs.
I'm glad you bring up alcohol. This is a perfect example of a sense-pleasure that can give temporary joy, but ultimately causes suffering. One drinks, they get a buzz, and while in that state, they're happy. They go to sleep, awaken, and suffer from a hangover, and long term, the whole episode did not bring about a permanent sense of pleasure. In fact, it can lead to further suffering down the road through addiction.
I will. I hope you do as well!
)What did you mean by permanent sense of pleasure? Do you mean wellbeing? Incrementally as your individual pleasures decrease your happiness, very small, decreases. But it's so small that you can afford to get rid of several, maybe even small multitudes, I don't know, it didn't say.
But these natural regulations can make animals enjoy their life fully AND leave time without. The real problem with addictions start with how happy you are, how much wellbeing you have. See people seek really fun stuff when they're, to say the least, down. I can tell because of Johann Hari on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, I forget which number. I have since becoming happy due to that class, The Science of Wellbeing on Coursera, started to limit my addictions more and more and allowed me to not use them as crutches.
Thanks!
No. I mean more than a temporary "fix." Something that brings forth a sense of joy and bliss that is everlasting and without end.
No one thing does not, and salvation, moksha, nirvana and all other eternal blisses from other religions don't do the best we have. The best we have is Science.
It's actually longer than that. Your bias is showing
Not true, it has dampened to manageable levels. What you can do to increase it is take in what you're doing, remind yourself of what you had, first hand if possible, and be thankful, for your old phone, taking in all the good sense of the new phone and ignoring yet taking care of the bad sensations. That's the ideal.
That is an important note. There's a whole Earth of pleasures, why indulge in few? Hedonic Adaptation dampens our experiences the more we experience them without time to recover. Why not have a plethora of all kinds of pleasures ranging from the self centered to the othercentered to the altruistic to the mundane to the indulgent to all of them that are not too extreme for ourselves.
Yes, SOMA was universally taken and intimate relationships were discouraged. The difference between "forbidden" and what was described in the book was that people were conditioned as children to want some things and to dislike other things, so people conformed with the society's norms because they actually wanted to. There was also social pressure to conform, just as there is now. Another element (it wasn't just about sex) was that people's brain power varied in each class, from Episilons (the most stupid) through the Greek letters to Alphas (the most intelligent). The point was that jobs were allocated based on this and people were in general happy with the work they were given. Today, machines would do the lowest level jobs, but remember when it was written. Essentially, the unhappiness associated with a job that was either too challenging or not challenging enough was eliminated.