Philosophy
« Previous EntriesUnderstanding Hedonism Part 6: Your Deathbed Review
Monday, August 11th, 2008As the morphine drips slowly through the tubes and the blurry, smiling faces of family, friends, and old compatriots smile lovingly upon you, there will come a moment in which it all becomes vividly, unquestionably and inescapably clear:
You were in the driver’s seat all along.
The choices you made determined your path, the opportunities were always [...]
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Understanding Hedonism Part 5: Reaching Nirvana
Monday, August 11th, 2008Nirvana’s a term that’s been flippantly tossed around, so its true meaning has muddled over time.
It’s not a location.
It’s not a band.
It’s a state of mind.
Nirvana is the Buddhist term for the quiet state of peace and pure pleasure that can only be found in one’s own private, innermost theater of experience. It’s a place [...]
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Understanding Hedonism Part 4: What’s The True Measure of Success?
Saturday, August 9th, 2008Normally, my existential views would automatically lead me to say “Success is anything you want it to be. It’s up to you to give your life meaning.”
And that’s still true.
But since we’re all flesh-and-blood biological machine human beings who cannot rise above our own humanity (not that we’d WANT to, but still) there exists a [...]
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Understanding Hedonism Part 3: Anhedonia and Utilitarianism
Thursday, August 7th, 2008Have you come to believe that pleasure and joy are for small children and simpletons? Have you ever met anyone who thought so?
I used carry the opinion that any activity which primarily tapped into the human instinctual “reptilian brain”, or sometimes even the “emotional brain”, was a complete and utter waste of time.
I used to [...]
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Understanding Hedonism Part 2: Live For Yourself Not For Others
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008History is full of debauched slobs who drank, drugged, and bumbled their way through life, sometimes to tragic ends. Are these to be taken as examples of the “good life”?
Hardly.
As always, the pendulum swings, and the excessive, unrestrained indulgences of our forebears simply represent the dangers of unbridled hedonism. A touch of restraint and self-control [...]
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Understanding Hedonism and Embracing Your Own Freedom
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008“No human thing is of serious importance.” - Plato
“Pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily.” - Epicurus
“A well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.” - Leonardo da Vinci
“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” - Bertrand [...]
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A Brief History Of You And Your Stuff
Monday, June 23rd, 2008It’s ironic we’re looking to industrial designers to save the earth when the profession has been so instrumental in feeding society’s ravenous desire for gratuitous change.
In the 1920’s, GM started tweaking the looks of its cars each year - an effort to boost sales in a saturated market. The ploy worked: other carmakers followed suit, and [...]
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5 Questions To Help You Choose Your Purpose In Life
Friday, June 20th, 2008Today I read a pretty good article by sales and achievement guru Brian Tracy on “How To Find Your True Calling” in life.
It had some good stuff I wanted to share, but I’ve renamed my post a little to reflect my own existential beliefs that your purpose is not something hiding under a rock somewhere, [...]
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What Does “Living Life” Mean To You?
Thursday, June 19th, 2008What is “living” ? Sounds like such a simple question, but I’m frequently surprised by how few people really consider what it really means to them.
And no, I don’t mean the involuntary act of breathing, and all the other things the body does to sustain itself. I’m talking about choosing your place in the world, finding it, and [...]
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Why It’s Cool To Stop Trying To Be Cool
Saturday, May 10th, 2008What follows is an article from GQ written by a pretty funny guy named Dan Kennedy (no relation to the marketing guru) — it’s an article I liked so much, and hit a nerve very close to me so well, I had the determination to rip its pages from the issue and type the whole thing [...]
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