Preferences

[Mindfang413]

Been thinking about this almost obsessively today.

How is it we enjoy or like things more than others? It cant be cause a feeling simply just feels better than another because everyone feels differently about the same feelings. For instance, someone could like romance more than anything else. Someone else could enjoy their work more than anything else. Hell, someone could even enjoy doing nothing at all as their favorite feeling. Its weird that preference even exists? Im questioning my own likes and dislikes? Like, where does it come from? Is this even worth wondering about?

[Carl-Richard]

Happenstance, repeated exposure and habituation. You've essentially been conditioned by your environment to prefer certain types of familiar stimuli over others. Whatever you entertain, you'll strengthen your connection to that thing, and you also get more used to it. You're also naturally more inclined to some things than others. This is why people have so many different hobbies. Your ability to derive pleasure from something is completely relative to previous experiences. This is why some rich dude can feel depressed while getting a blowjob on a 50 millon dollar yatch and why some buddhist ascetic can feel the pleasure of 100 orgasms just staring into a concrete wall.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Carl-Richard

[Mindfang413]

This just opened the door to another question regarding the same thing. And its really bothering me. But how can someone mentally like or enjoy something physically painful or uncomfortable? Like a masochist?

[Mindfang413]

@Carl-Richard that makes sense. I thought it was probably due to conditioning. Its just now im wondering how i can trust my own preferences. Doesnt that mean its all kinda of an illusion?

[Carl-Richard]

2 minutes ago, Mindfang413 said:

This just opened the door to another question regarding the same thing. And its really bothering me. But how can someone mentally like or enjoy something physically painful or uncomfortable? Like a masochist?

I'm not an expert, but the way I see it is that you can condition a specific contradictory response to something if it comes from a higher mental level. It's essentially a mental desire being fullfilled instead of a physical one, and that can cause a lot of pleasure aswell. Arousal associated with the mental anticipation before/during sex is a very big part of the experience, more so for women than men apparenty.

[Carl-Richard]

4 minutes ago, Mindfang413 said:

@Carl-Richard that makes sense. I thought it was probably due to conditioning. Its just now im wondering how i can trust my own preferences. Doesnt that mean its all kinda of an illusion?

The only thing you can really trust is that everything is an illusion