Would You Rather Be A Hedonist Or An Ascetic ?

[Guest username]

I'm just curious what people would pick of these two. I'm not saying you have to be one or the other, but for the purposes of this poll, please select one option and give your reasoning. If you think it's a stupid question and insist upon saying "neither", then please don't vote.

[egoeimai]

What are you asking? If people love to have fun with things and enjoy ,or to be restricted and miserable as hell? Lol You already know the answer.

Ηδονιστής ή Ασκητικός λοοοολ.

Fairly easy.

[alyra]

the world isn't black and white

[Guest username]

@aryberry Did you comment this just because of my OP comment?

[alyra]

@username nothing is black and white  

 

 

and no, your question isn't stupid and I'm not saying neither. it's a very insightful question and I gave my best response that I had in the moment. I am sorry if it is not to your liking. just ignore me and move on

[Guest username]

@aryberry I'm not annoyed by any means, just wondering. I made the OP comment specifically because I felt like people were going to say things about it not being that simple or calling out the black and white thinking behind the question. I wanted to specify that I was well aware of all that but wanted to direct a discussion on a comparison between two very different approaches to life.

[alyra]

@username what I mean when I say there is nothing black in whiet. is that you ask me to declare some kind of deep desire or wanting. I do not have such things! it is make believe! I say this from a long life of direct experience by the way - I have always struggled to answer when someone asks me these things "do you want chinese or pizza" - I want everything!

 

there are times when I am a mystic. and times when I am a hedonist. times when I am both. and times when I am neither. and all the mixtures thereof, in between, thos poles. and these times can be as long as many years or as short as a split second! 

 

I do not answer "both ways" not because I am somehow trying to be clever or behind the question or better-than or smart or whatever. I answer "there is no black and white" because that is the most simple, most direct answer I came up with to explain my "preference" that you ask for. 

 

it might sound as if I claim that I have no preference but while I might literally same that sometimes it isn't what is true. there are merits to both and flaws to both, and I just find it too precise to answer either way because it never is that precise. there is always aspects of either, even when there is not-one, even when there is neither. even when I am fully conscious and even when I am fully unconscious.

 

 and when I am asked these kinds of questions, I recognize these (idk what to say "facts?")  when I am asked such questions and reflect upon my answer, like I have done with this thread. I cannot trully say "hedonist" and cannot truly say "ascetic" because neither and yet both are true. and either, and that fourth thing that is neither neither nor either nor both but I don't have a word for it at the moment... "mixture" or "gradient" just doesn't truly capture the meaning accurately but they could do... 

 

 

[Guest username]

@aryberry Haha, don't worry! It totally makes sense. I was just saying that I designed the question to force people to make a choice, even if they wouldn't in the real world.

I was just curious as to what people would pick of the two when that's all they had to choose from.

[alyra]

but it isn't all I have to choose from. I didn't vote at all! I could've even not posted, or not bothered to open the thread. I could've lied. you think you have limited what can be done. but there is never a limit to what can be done - that is the key. there is never black and white.

 

 

 

lol even when it is black and white, it is in reality not so. imagine how yin and yang are - if you remove one of them, it will still remain! the contrast is what creates the other one! this is the same of all things. I mean imagine all the things that are nothing to do with yin and yang - and yet the contrast of yin and yang reveal understanding about those things too! or scratch the example of yin and yang and imagine cats and oranges. contemplate how cats and oranges reveal perspectives about your question of hedons and ascetics!

 

you are curious what I would say if I must choose between hedonists or ascetics. and you have directly witnessed what I would say if I was l imited to such things! I would not allow you to limit me that way! this is my answer

[Loreena]

I would say ascetic. Works well for me. Abstinence feels great after having been through some crazy stuff. I don't digest hedonism very well. 

[Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj]

My best days so far has involved solitude, meditating for hours, eating light, being in nature, skiing or walking and off the computer. My worst days has to be the ones where I have been sitting on my computer, drinking coffee, eating candy, smoking and eating pizza. But everything is not black or white...

[Flare]

"To understand the freedom ascesis gives you, think about that it is far less painful to lose all of your wealth than only half of it." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb 

[Spiral]

Ascetic by the following definition 

"a person who leads an austerely simple life, especially one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself or herself material satisfaction"- Dictionary(2017)

 

[99th_monkey]

bring on the stiff booze and loose women

[Pav]

Doesn't matter, both different symptoms of the same problem. 

The hedonist attempts to mask their sense of separation with stimulation. The ascetic reacts with the opposite, empowering themselves by acclimatising to pain and discomfort.

Liberation is in true detachment.

[Shin]

Both -> Enlightenment -> Then both ... PROFIT !!!!

Edited April 6, 2017 by Shin

[Loreena]

I do like to flirt a lot. I am a dirty flirty. 

The inner beast never gets satiated until it gets it's daily dose of "flirt talk."

I love flirtingggg