The Problem With Pleasure

"Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure. The caretaker of that abode, a kindly host, will be ready for you; he will welcome you with bread, and serve you water also in abundance, with these words: "Have you not been well entertained? This garden does not whet your appetite; but quenches it."
[Gate Inscription at Epicurus' Garden]

I always had a problem with pleasure in my religious and spiritual days. Oh, I always loved pleasure, don't get me wrong, and that was the problem, as I had been taught. If something was pleasant, it was suspect--it would either lead me away from God, or lead me away from the path to Awakening. The spiritual path was one of discipline, self-abnegation, doing "God's will" which was usually the opposite of what I wanted. There was always a struggle going on in my life, and I usually just gave in to my desires, suffering guilt and regret as a consequence.

Now, neither spiritual or religious, I still sometimes find myself leery of pleasure. Though I try to live an enjoyable, happy life, it is sometimes hard to let go of the self-contempt I felt for a long time in the past as I seek pleasure and comfort. I have to keep reminding myself that as a human, I am the result of a process of evolution that has used pleasure to ensure the survival of the species, and so seeking pleasurable states is truly hard-wired in our brains. It is not a flaw, but an integral part of what it means to be a human.

I have been enjoying reading about the philosophy of Epicurus lately. His view on pleasure is not hedonism, as he has been accused of since he founded the Garden. He teaches his followers to find joy in simple pleasures: a meal, shared with friends; conversations with like-minded people; living a simple life surrounded by the beauties of nature; living free of what society claims is important.  This is the life for me! I can enjoy the simple things that bring me pleasure, and I can use a philosophical approach to discover what pleasures are truly helpful as I live my life.

Ironically, as I relax and allow myself to enjoy the simple pleasures that are close at hand, I am less likely to over-indulge in the things I once did. I find myself happy with much less, and find pleasure in many different ways, being free from the addiction of needing certain things to be happy.

Epicurus taught that the goal in life is ataraxia, tranquility, freedom from pain, distress and worry. Finding the pleasures that lead to ataraxia is how to live ones life, it is not a way of mindless self-indulgence or selfishness. It is a simple way, but it also requires that one become introspective, and question whether the action one takes will lead to ataraxia, or not. It is the life of a happy philosopher, a fulfilled human being, as one learns to give up the worries and pains that our society so often inflicts upon us. A very worthwhile goal, in my opinion.

Too Long Away

It's been a year and three months since I've added anything to this blog. It's not because my beliefs have changed: if anything, I am even more confident in my skepticism. I guess the need to think things out by writing them down has become less important, though I do have a journal that I write in from time to time. Perhaps the desire to come back to this blog is becoming strong enough so that I will begin to write again--who knows!

For now, I would like to share this wonderful passage that I just found online.

“When I became convinced that the Universe is natural – that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world -- not even in infinite space. I was free -- free to think, to express my thoughts -- free to live to my own ideal -- free to live for myself and those I loved -- free to use all my faculties, all my senses -- free to spread imagination's wings -- free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope -- free to judge and determine for myself -- free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past -- free from popes and priests -- free from all the "called" and "set apart" -- free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies -- free from the fear of eternal pain -- free from the winged monsters of the night -- free from devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought -- no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings -- no chains for my limbs -- no lashes for my back -- no fires for my flesh -- no master's frown or threat – no following another's steps -- no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain -- for the freedom of labor and thought -- to those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains -- to those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs -- to those whose bones were crushed, whose flesh was scarred and torn -- to those by fire consumed -- to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll