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Hedonism is a philosophy that argues: life is all about chasing pleasures and avoiding pain. That this IS the meaning of life. This is a very popular lifestyle specially to young people (and the wannabe young).
Most other philosophy would call this shallow. Most religion would call this sinful. Our parents/elders will probably think so, too. It would seem like they are all compelled for us not to have a happy life, doesnt it?
But let us ignore all of their opinion. And let's see for ourself if hedonism truly is what we want. If hedonism is truly a satisfying lifestyle.
Let's do a thought experiment.
Imagine that this is the world of Naruto, and somewhere out there, the infinite tsukoyomi has been casted. This is a jutsu conjured by Madara, the antagonist in the story, where he uses his rinnegan and reflected it off the moon to trap every people that sees the moon in an illusion.
If you know the story, the subjects of this illusion is captured by the "god tree's root" to extract their energy. Let's not have that. No nefarious entity to s†éál anything from you. Just plainly an alternative experience than the real life. Let's say your body will be well taken cared of, somewhere safe and guarantee that it will live it's full lifetime. Then within the illusion, you experience everything so real, you will not realize that it is only an illusion.
Everything in this illusion will be according to what you regard as pleasurable. Everything regarded as pain will be morphed to be the opposite or will not happen at all. You shall spend your whole life in this illusion with pure pleasure and zero pain.
Now, would you subject yourself to the infinite tsukoyomi and live there the rest of your life?
I would imagine, it will be still a NO.. have not met anyone who would be willing to be subjected to such condition.
And why not? Because it wasn't real? If life is all about chasing pleasure and avoiding pain, what else about the real life would we want? This proves that hedonism is not as satisfying lifestyle. Perhaps just momentary experience, but not a lifestyle.
This is because there is more to life than hedonism. It not about the pleasure, neither it is about avoiding pain. Life is a bittersweet experience and should be experienced as such.
At some point you will want to welcome pain, or forego pleasure. Simply put it, pure hedonism renders life incomplete.
Thank you for reading.
Most other philosophy would call this shallow. Most religion would call this sinful. Our parents/elders will probably think so, too. It would seem like they are all compelled for us not to have a happy life, doesnt it?
But let us ignore all of their opinion. And let's see for ourself if hedonism truly is what we want. If hedonism is truly a satisfying lifestyle.
Let's do a thought experiment.
Imagine that this is the world of Naruto, and somewhere out there, the infinite tsukoyomi has been casted. This is a jutsu conjured by Madara, the antagonist in the story, where he uses his rinnegan and reflected it off the moon to trap every people that sees the moon in an illusion.
If you know the story, the subjects of this illusion is captured by the "god tree's root" to extract their energy. Let's not have that. No nefarious entity to s†éál anything from you. Just plainly an alternative experience than the real life. Let's say your body will be well taken cared of, somewhere safe and guarantee that it will live it's full lifetime. Then within the illusion, you experience everything so real, you will not realize that it is only an illusion.
Everything in this illusion will be according to what you regard as pleasurable. Everything regarded as pain will be morphed to be the opposite or will not happen at all. You shall spend your whole life in this illusion with pure pleasure and zero pain.
Now, would you subject yourself to the infinite tsukoyomi and live there the rest of your life?
I would imagine, it will be still a NO.. have not met anyone who would be willing to be subjected to such condition.
And why not? Because it wasn't real? If life is all about chasing pleasure and avoiding pain, what else about the real life would we want? This proves that hedonism is not as satisfying lifestyle. Perhaps just momentary experience, but not a lifestyle.
This is because there is more to life than hedonism. It not about the pleasure, neither it is about avoiding pain. Life is a bittersweet experience and should be experienced as such.
At some point you will want to welcome pain, or forego pleasure. Simply put it, pure hedonism renders life incomplete.
Thank you for reading.
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