Invitation to Hedonism

Hedonism is the belief that seeking and enjoying pleasure is the ultimate calling in life. The hedonist consciously puts pleasure first. The truth is, everyone is a hedonist, but there are two different levels of following this philosophy: the subconscious level and the conscious level. In the former, a person makes up all sorts of reasons besides pleasure to justify everything they do. For example, a missionary might give up the luxuries of his home country and dive into a life of poverty witnessing to a hostile audience. But ultimately, the whole reason the missionary is making this sacrifice is because he believes deep down that that’s how to optimize pleasure. On the other hand, a conscious-level pleasure-seeker has accepted the fact that pleasure is his ultimate motive. That doesn’t necessarily mean the conscious hedonist can’t make sacrifices or lead an austere life– he might still calculate that these produce the maximum happiness for him. The difference is that since the conscious pleasuremonger isn’t making up excuses, his inner model of reality is more accurate and he can achieve better results in general.

The founding fathers of the United States weren’t thinking of greed or selfishness when they placed the pursuit of happiness right up there with liberty and with life itself. They understood that the desire for joy and happiness is not just ubiquitous, it’s inherently noble and good.

Whatever you’re doing, and for whatever reason you might think you’re doing it, I guarantee you’ll realize greater success and achievement if you consciously acknowledge that, deep down, you’re doing it to feel good. Upon embracing hedonism, some people will even realize they’ve been on the wrong path for years. The switch can be a life-saving one when it makes someone realize that their current path will never fulfill them in the way they really need it to.

So very far from being selfish or greedy, the decision to consciously reach for bliss and joy, is actually quite selfless. Whenever I see someone on some sort of “selfless quest”– supposedly depriving themselves of pleasure for some higher purpose– what I really see is a person with a stick up their arse. Without fail, these people make life less fun for everyone else. It’s not the specific details of whatever lifestyle they’ve chosen for themselves, it’s that they seem to universally think one single thought: “if I can’t enjoy my life, then no one else should enjoy theirs.” I was one of these people for awhile myself. I was obsessed with mathematics to the exclusion of many of the pleasures of life. I actually felt a tangible, physical resentment welling up in me when I saw other people partying, having fun, and enjoying life. The truth is, though, I was no different, it’s just that my party consisted of a lot less sex and alcohol, and a lot more proofs and equations. By effectively denying myself to the world, I was reducing the overall joy and good in the world as a whole.

It’s especially profitable to be hedonistic in a relationship. The general rule is that, in a loving relationship, each partner wants the other to be happy; paradoxically, then, the easiest way to make your partner happy is to be happy yourself.

FURTHER READING

Take Control of Life
Kindness and Cruelty
Solipsism