what is your opinion on hedonism?

[Deleted]

Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure is the primary or most important intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain).

Are you a hedonist?  Do you respect the philosophy?  If you were single and kids were gone, would that lifestyle be attractive to you?  Why or why not?

[ArchietheDragon]

No. I am a New Englander. I believe that nothing should be enjoyable and everything should be done with an effort to maximize how much of a pain it is.

[MJ2.0]

Yes, yes I am.  Can't practice that fully though - you know, being a responsible adult and parent and all.

if I was single (oh wait, I am) with no kid AND I was given a lump sum of $10 billion.... well, I'd be one fat, lazy, sexy beast!

[kittensaver]

I live at the beach in La La Land. Hedonism is our middle name  [at least according to the stereotypes y'all out there seem to have about us ]

[Deleted]

If you are pro hedonism, what do you do about it?  Also how does it affect your savings and all the ym stuff?   Is hedonism and long term planning compatable?

[lexxy703]

Is hedonism and long term planning compatable?

I've never really thought about it but it doesn't seem like it could be.

I'm probably too lazy to be a hedonist.

[Deleted]

Jul 21, 2015 15:07:09 GMT -5 @hickle said:

Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure is the primary or most important intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain).

Are you a hedonist?  Do you respect the philosophy?  If you were single and kids were gone, would that lifestyle be attractive to you?  Why or why not?

I use to be, but then I graduated from middle school.

[Deleted]

Jul 21, 2015 15:39:23 GMT -5 @joey said:

Jul 21, 2015 15:07:09 GMT -5 @hickle said:

Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure is the primary or most important intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain).

Are you a hedonist?  Do you respect the philosophy?  If you were single and kids were gone, would that lifestyle be attractive to you?  Why or why not?

I use to be, but then I graduated from middle school.

Could you elaborate please.     Why are you not one now?  Do you think it is a childish way of life?  I am watching a tv series where one of the characters is kind of hedonistic.  He is a bad guy too, but the hedonistic lifestyle looks kind of cool. Just going with the flow and looking for enjoyment.

I am 54, my kids are grown, I am single.  I don't really have much fun and I think maybe I would  like to make some changes.   I realize it doesn't not have to be all or nothing, but looking at the extremes is kind of interesting to me.  Thank you for the response.

[MJ2.0]

you're stuttering, alwaysbeoptimizing

[Tiny]

Jul 21, 2015 15:19:49 GMT -5 @hickle said:

If you are pro hedonism, what do you do about it?  Also how does it affect your savings and all the ym stuff?   Is hedonism and long term planning compatable?

Well, I grew up old school Catholic so "suffering is good"  was the general philosopy I learned   So, yeah, I'm into hedonism because it hurts so good.   

Seriously though humans operate on a hedonistic level most of the time.  People don't like to do stuff that they find painful or arduous or unpleasant any longer than they have to.  Except for maybe guilt.. but that seems to be more masochistic to me (they enjoy/need the guilt they are feeling for whatever reason).  
 
Then there's the issue with being selfless (or aspiring to it) - it can be seen as selfish if being selfless makes you feel good (thus making you want to do it more)...  see where this is going   


Anyway, I can totally see hedonism working very nicely with saving/investing and all things YMAM.   
Saving and Investing for the future makes me feel good right now - even though I'm delaying some gratification for later. There's the learning about the investment process, actually doing it, watching the money grow (or fall!), planning/thinking about the 'good stuff' I hope to be able to do with the $$  in the future... it's all 'feel good' and 'Warm Fuzzies'.       

Long Term Plans bring me alot of joy and happiness... the planning part, working the plan and the prolonged anticipation sometimes make me happier over all than the 'fleeting' happiness of achieving the actual goal. 


For me, following the YMAM Way has given me more oportunities to enjoy hedonistic things (like vacations, nice stuff, new expereinces) because I have more $$ and time to do them.

[mmhmm]

Jul 21, 2015 15:58:59 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

you're stuttering, alwaysbeoptimizing

I fixed it. 

Actually, I think ProBoards was stuttering. They had a bit of a problem there for a bit.

[Shooby]

I think the big cosmic joke of life is that you actually CAN have too much of a good thing. That unless you live a balanced life, you are going to have issues. If you over indulge in food or alcohol you will get fat and/or addicted or create problems for your life. If you overindulge in playing and don't work enough, you will play yourself into the poor house. If you overindulge in anything, it gets you out of balance to the point that it harms other areas of your life. So, even if you would want to live that way, life will kick you in the pants so that you can't. Lol.

[Deleted]

my thinking is that hedonism is more indulgent then not.   And that it is more current lifestyle then future oriented.

[msventoux]

No.  I'm an uptight mostly reformed northern Baptist. 

[billisonboard]

I post on YMAM Politics, the polar opposite of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. 

[Deleted]

A hedonistic lifestyle never satisfies its victim. They bore easily

But having your pleasures met can be a very a good thing after all the darn pain we go through in life. 

I don't see a thing wrong with anyone enjoying an empty nest either.  For may reasons, human birdies never seem to forget their flight route back to the nest in times of great need.

[happyhoix]

I think YM is the wrong place to be looking for hedonistic lifestyles. Most of us here are probably the frugal, save more, spend less, ant vs grasshopper types. If we're having fun, it's probably mostly inexpensive fun, or at least fun-within-our-budget fun.

DH and I talk about selling all our crap, quitting our jobs and moving someplace cheap to do only what we wanted to, only when we wanted to do it, but we're too damn practical for that.

Although I do know someone who just did this - she and her DH quit their jobs, sold everything, and moved to LA - without jobs waiting for them. They just decided they were never going to be happy living where they were living, so they were going to move to where they had been happy before and hope for the best. That takes a lot of courage.