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 Mason's
Meditations
If
you're looking for something to chew over, some thoughtful seeds
for mental cultivation, bookmark this page for Jeff Mason's fortnightly
meditations. To think in or take away...
Number
Fourteen: The Life of Pleasure
The
pursuit of pleasure has a bad name. It is associated with that old
excuse to forget our responsibilities and have a good time, "Eat,
drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die." The stereotype of the
hedonist, the person who lives for pleasure and takes pleasure to
be the overall good, is that of a dissipated voluptuary who lives
a round of excess and vice.
When
pleasures are mentioned, the first that come to mind are physical
pleasures. These are like the pleasures of eating, drinking, having
sex or doing drugs. The pleasures of music, art and drama also involve
the senses. What links them together is a vital connection with
the passing moment. Perhaps this is part of the reason that pleasure
has had such a bad name in the history of philosophy. Pleasures
are ephemeral. Whether unavoidable, like the physical pleasures
of eating and breathing, or unnecessary, like the pleasures of ornament
and ostentation, they all pass away.
The
Epicureans were an ancient group of rational-minded philosophers
who thought that pleasure is not to be despised. However, as a group,
they have been tarred with the brush of crude physical hedonism
like that associated with Roman orgies. In fact, the opposite is
true. They argued that pleasure's bad name is not warranted. It
is because we have invented the notion of eternity, gods and an
afterlife that we are tortured by the transitoriness of all our
pleasures. Without that baggage, we would seek pleasure and avoid
pain, like the other animals. We would live more in the ‘now', acknowledging
our ignorance of what has gone before, and of what will happen tomorrow.
Rather than giving in to riotous pleasures, the Epicureans distinguished
themselves by their reserved life style and the delight they took
in conversation. The simple pleasures are the best, along with those
of friendship and open talk. The pleasures of the senses are not
to be despised, nor are they to take over a person's life. With
that proviso, a rational way of living has a valued place for pleasure.
Mason's
Meditations will next be updated mid-September 2001
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Previous
Meditations
13.
(1st July 2001)
12. (1st
June 2001)
11.
(1st May 2001)
10.
(1st April 2001)
9. (16th March 2001)
8. (1st
March 2001)
7.
(15th February 2001)
6.
(1st February 2001)
5. (15th
January 2001)
4. (1st
January 2001)
3.
(15th December 2000)
2.
(1st December 2000)
1. (15th November
2000)
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