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 November 17 by Hojo

[whh2222]

 

[Ishanga]

The Basis of Human Existence is Pleasurable Experience, first it is done by satisfying the 5 senses, You eat something You like, You watch something You like, You smell something You Like, You listen to something You like, You feel touch something You like (sex), once this is done for awhile You get Used to it, explore this Desiring process, distinguish what is this You and the objects that affect Your You experience.. Then what happens as we age, or it should happen, we begin to lose those things that brought us pleasure, the 5 senses begin to fail or deteriorate, so this forces us to look deeper and within Ourselves for Pleasure or a more solid base for our Pleasurable Experience be it Peace, Happiness, Joy or Blissful experience within, there are many practices that allow this too happen.

The opposite of all of this is pain which can lead to Suffering, if Your Suffering all the time then the experience is to end it, so its all relative, if Your Joyful of Your own nature, then this is allow more Potential to come into Your Perception and Experience, if Suffering is happening this Potential never comes into Your Perception and You get stuck in the Suffering and living below Human nature in essence...

[Viking]

On 11/17/2024 at 0:03 AM, Spiritual Warfare said:

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?

 

Notice that when you say

"If pleasure is truly the only thing that makes life worth living, then life starts to feel less significant or meaningful"

You're not in the pleasure itself but *thinking* about pleasure. 

The lack of meaning lies in your perspective. Seeing the cup half empty. 

It technically can be true that humans are guided by pleasure, but you can also see it as being greatful that you can experience pleasure. Aren't we fortunate to be alive and be able to experience life? 

The issue is that you're trying to arrive at the "truth". But your emotions and the feeling of "meaning" don't care about truth. They care about the way you present the truth to yourself.

Our emotions don't respond well to "objective" thoughts. And there is no such thing as an "objective" way to look at the world. That leaves us with the absolute freedom to choose how we see life, and since we have this radical freedom, we can choose to find the positive perspective which builds us.

That said, it's not an easy thing to do and takes time and awareness of the negative perspective you choose to see things. To catch yourself overthinking and divert your attention to something else.

Instead of thinking "life is less meaningful because life is only about pleasure", think "isn't it nice how i enjoyed seeing friends today?"

 

If you don't manage to find those positive things you probably need to objectively improve your life, have relationships, life purpose, etc... 

[Breakingthewall]

Life itself is pleasure. If you don't feel it like that, is just because you have barriers to break. Hedonistic pleasures are nothing, without a load of truth they are empty, like artificial sweet, toxic. The movement is not to the pleasure, is to the depth. 

[Fearey]

Suffering.

[hyruga]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8b9T-WpP2C/?igsh=YzljYTk1ODg3Zg==

 

Well, when you help others, you feel you have led a meaningful life. There's two types of happiness: oh I forgot what are they 🤣