What Makes Life Worth Living?

[Spiritual Warfare]

Imagine living your current life in exactly the same way, but without experiencing any pleasure. Would that life still be worth living?

I’ve been reflecting deeply on this question lately, as the way I choose to answer it seems to either affirm or deny whether I am a hedonist.

To answer no would mean accepting that the only thing making my life worth living is the (admittedly rare) pleasure I experience. It would imply that things like relationships, significance or meaning (whatever that entails), and abstract values like justice or truth are worthless without the good feelings that accompany them. It would suggest that loving relationships with family, for example, only hold value insofar as they provide me with personal pleasure.

To answer yes would deny the truth of hedonism and affirm that something other than pleasure gives my life value. I find it hard to identify what that “something” might be.

And herein lies the problem. I honestly cannot think of anything valuable in this world apart from pleasure or positive experiences. I’m starting to believe that pleasure is the sole source of value in life.

This realization depresses me somewhat. Pleasure, in the grand scheme of things, feels insignificant and fleeting. You’re born, you experience some pleasure, and then you die. So what? You can’t hold onto pleasure or take it anywhere with you. Most “pleasurable” experiences are overshadowed or at least tinged by suffering. Take an amazing sunset, for example. While it may fill you with awe, there’s always the awareness that it will end soon or that you might be hungry, uncomfortable, or dealing with some other unmet need. Suffering seems to be ever-present in the background or even the foreground of most experiences.

If pleasure is truly the only thing that makes life worth living, then life starts to feel less significant or meaningful. Why endure nearly constant suffering for the sake of a few fleeting moments of pleasure? Once those moments are felt, they’re gone.

So, where does this leave me? I think the solution lies in one of two approaches. The first is to discover something in this world that holds value beyond pleasure or positive sensations. The second is to fully embrace the pursuit of pleasure, learning to find genuine excitement in the potential to experience it. This would mean wholeheartedly adopting a hedonistic mindset, becoming passionate about seeking out and planning for pleasurable experiences, and living in constant pursuit of the next positive sensation.

But I’m unsure which path to take. What is actually valuable in life? Why live at all? And if my life were stripped of pleasure, would it still feel worth living? How I answer this question reveals so much about my values. Am I a hedonist after all?

 

[Buck Edwards]

Why do you always measure everything in units of pleasure? i have noticed this a lot in your posts. 

[Hojo]

Death is pleasurable, it will feel like you are orgasiming x 1000000000. Its so good the normal feelings of your body dissapear and you only focus on that feeling and then that's the only thing that exists, a very good feeling.

You have to feel worse to be something.

You are stopping yourself from feeling like you are experiencing a 1k x orgasm that's what your base level is.

Sadhguru says stop all brain activity and you will feel like you are cumming.

Edited 10 hours ago by Hojo

[whh2222]