Archive for 'Philosophy' tag

Understanding Hedonism Part 3: Anhedonia and Utilitarianism

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

Have 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, 2008

History 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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What Does “Living Life” Mean To You?

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

What 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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We All Create Our Own Realities To Live In

Friday, May 9th, 2008

Note: I got this excellent e-mail about a year ago from one of my best friends, Jason Summers, describing his experiences in talking with a few people outside our normal loop where he also ends up delving into a lot of our shared core beliefs. I liked it so much I wanted to post it [...]

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Are You Letting This Common Mindset Ruin Your Life?

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

You can have any mindset you want about anyTHING you want.
None are inherantly “good” or “bad” (those concepts are based on other people’s agreement or disagreement), but for every kind of mindset, there are very exact consequences that will come to you as a result.
I just got off the phone a few minutes ago with [...]

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Does American Society Demand Too Much Of Us?

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

NOTE: This was actually written a couple years ago or so. While I still mostly agree with it, some of the biting attitudes of cynicism are no longer with me and there are certain small details I no longer believe. The bottom line is that we cannot be everything to everybody, so stop trying. The [...]

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