Hedonism
In a recent discussion with my very religious aunt, she asked me what I believe in (religion wise). I told her not much. To which she replied, "If you believe in nothing, then what is the point of life? Are you a hedonist or something?"
Yes, I think I am a hedonist. It is a very logical conclusion that if you think you only have one life, you need to be alive to feel happiness, happiness is good, therefore I will try and maximize my happiness during my brief time on earth. I think there are some very common pitfalls that affect people who attempt to be a hedonist, and I will take the liberty to share my thoughts on the matter.
To be a hedonist you must:
1. Know yourself
2. Have the ability to do what makes you happy.
Knowing yourself is by far the most important and hardest thing to achieve as a hedonist. A hedonist's goal is to maximize happiness throughout their lifetime. However, certain people are made happy by different things. So in order to maximize your happiness, you must know first what makes you happy. The analysis does not stop there. A person must then be able to weight the short-term and long-term effects of every action they take to achieve their goal of happiness. This is harder then it seems and people often make the wrong choice. For example, many people, when faced with an opportunity to cheat o their spouse, take it. They take this decision to fulfill a short-term desire, and in so choosing, they are ignoring the long-term effects on their happiness. Hence why the go back and beg forgiveness later. After committing the adulteress act, they realize that the short-term gain of happiness is not worth the loss of their long term happiness from having a steady sexual partner and good friend. If they felt that they had made a good choice, then an apology would be unnecessary, and any one given insincere anyways. The weighing of short vs. long term is often gotten wrong by people. For example, meth addicts took short when they should have been thinking long term.
Having the ability to do what makes you happy is the easiest of the requirements to fulfill. In our society, most things can be achieved given a sufficient amount of work and effort. If you want more money you must work harder, if you want to be thin you must exercise, if you want to climb Mt. everest you must have money and get in shape, etc. Most things in life are acquirable if you work at getting them. The only thing that stops people is that they fail at self-motivating themselves to achieve their long term goals, and instead succumb to the temptation of short term goals, in violation of the paragraph above.
Yes, I think I am a hedonist. It is a very logical conclusion that if you think you only have one life, you need to be alive to feel happiness, happiness is good, therefore I will try and maximize my happiness during my brief time on earth. I think there are some very common pitfalls that affect people who attempt to be a hedonist, and I will take the liberty to share my thoughts on the matter.
To be a hedonist you must:
1. Know yourself
2. Have the ability to do what makes you happy.
Knowing yourself is by far the most important and hardest thing to achieve as a hedonist. A hedonist's goal is to maximize happiness throughout their lifetime. However, certain people are made happy by different things. So in order to maximize your happiness, you must know first what makes you happy. The analysis does not stop there. A person must then be able to weight the short-term and long-term effects of every action they take to achieve their goal of happiness. This is harder then it seems and people often make the wrong choice. For example, many people, when faced with an opportunity to cheat o their spouse, take it. They take this decision to fulfill a short-term desire, and in so choosing, they are ignoring the long-term effects on their happiness. Hence why the go back and beg forgiveness later. After committing the adulteress act, they realize that the short-term gain of happiness is not worth the loss of their long term happiness from having a steady sexual partner and good friend. If they felt that they had made a good choice, then an apology would be unnecessary, and any one given insincere anyways. The weighing of short vs. long term is often gotten wrong by people. For example, meth addicts took short when they should have been thinking long term.
Having the ability to do what makes you happy is the easiest of the requirements to fulfill. In our society, most things can be achieved given a sufficient amount of work and effort. If you want more money you must work harder, if you want to be thin you must exercise, if you want to climb Mt. everest you must have money and get in shape, etc. Most things in life are acquirable if you work at getting them. The only thing that stops people is that they fail at self-motivating themselves to achieve their long term goals, and instead succumb to the temptation of short term goals, in violation of the paragraph above.