I was wondering if there were OR are any people in the world who have lived a life full of pleasure. Someone whose life went how they imagined it or hoped for. It could be anyone. For example, maybe Hugh Hefner has lived an entire life where the pro's dramatically outway the con's.
I just feel for me that if things are going well in life, either someone is suffering for it or suffering will come upon me to balance out the good. I like to think I'm wrong with my outlook and hope that someone out the has lived a CAREFREE lifestyle without any complications or negative disturbances. Heck I won't beat about the bush, I want to live a life that is good and pleasing to me without feeling guilty.
Does anybody feel me? Am I entitled to live how I want or do I have to "earn" my happiness through arduous and tedious toil?
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I'd say you're entitled to live how you want provided it's not detrimental to you or society. For example, if you're finding happiness in the bottom of a wine bottle 24/7 (or other such vices) you might want to rethink things. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush2.gif) But if you want to be successful in your chosen career, have a family, travel the world, or just sit at home with your pets and watch the world go by, I personally don't see a problem in that.

My life, right now, is more or less how I wanted it to be when I was a kid. I wasn't counting on the autoimmune crap throwing a wrench into the works but since that's genetic it couldn't be avoided. My life's not *perfect,* there are still things I need and want to make it complete, but for now it's OK. But then again if things were perfect and I had done everything that I'm supposed to do in this world I'd be dead, so...but I'm working on the things that I feel would make my life better.

That having been said: the completely trouble-free and bad day free life is a myth. You'll only find that on the other side of the grave and maybe not even there--it depends on what your Self wants to do. How you deal with the inevitable snarls is the ultimate judge of character. The general idea is to set goals and achieve them. Just bear in mind how you get there may or may not be quite what you had in mind.

The main problem is that most people don't know what they want, and by the time they do, their lives are set and it's usually too late to make any kind of serious change. Or, they're too afraid to go after what they really want and settle into quiet lives of mediocrity. Both groups usually wind up hating and fearing those who do follow their dreams, whatever they are, and then their pettiness causes a lot of grief to themselves and everyone around them. So you'll want to be aware of this as well.

Just set your goals and chug away. Good luck...

'tis good to be the king', and a good king is hard to find, and with a good king there comes happiness peace and security to the shoulders he stands upon- i don't think its happened lately, as this world is too far gone over to greed to ever prosper again

it is possible to remove oneself from the physical, and submerge oneself in their eternal self to the detriment of their physical life, but that existence is timeless and formless, so happiness does not exist, but neither does anything else, so one is not happy nor sad there - it is a good escape for those in deadly circumstances, but not so great a solution since most volunteered to come here to the physical in the first place

determining and following one's mission helps, as does opening the heart and mind to love

that's what i got (and of course its whacked lol)

i'd love to hear other opinions on this, as it affects us all right now with the economic debacle, and a lot of people are asking 'what do i do?

Maybe not a bottle of wine but something like staying indoors watching animation movies all day and being fine with it because thats simply what you want to do, or just stay in and read books on all sorts of subjects.
Do many things that make you happy and know thats its alright to be happy.
I'm coming to realize that for me to remain in a certain state of happiness I would have to fixate on that 'thing' and remain with it as long as possible but to save distraction I would have to seclude myself in my own world of bliss and would inevitably become detached from society. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
Would I be a bad person if I stopped caring about all the problems in the world and just focused on my own selfish gratification, looking out for number 1.
Is the guilt coming from the fact that I want to ignore global issues or that I'm denying myself a life of joy? What if we only live once, I might aswell make the most of it, right?
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This post has been edited by al_zaine: Mar 31 2009, 09:11 AM

While looking into all of this, I was hunting through pages on hedonism and came across this line which I think hits the nail on the head.
"Too much wine leads to a hangover, not euphoria. So the balanced enjoyment of pleasure was the means by which Epicureans sought to achieve philosophical ataraxia, or peace of mind. The term "epicurean" is even in use today as denoting a person of exquisite tastes and gourmet palate, enjoying the finer things in life in a refined and sophisticated manner".
I just can't get enough of this stuff, its great. I can see that this is where I need to focus and to study more.
This is a quote from wiki:
"Ataraxia (Ἀταραξία) is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and Epicurus for a limpid state, characterized by freedom from worry or any other preoccupation.
For the Epicureans, ataraxia was synonymous with the only true happiness possible for a person. It signifies the detached and balanced state of mind that shows that a person has transcended the material world and is now harvesting all the comforts of philosophy."
I've found my calling!
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This post has been edited by al_zaine: Mar 31 2009, 06:04 PM

Yep. Epicurus is my favorite philosopher and possibly all-round favorite person-that-I-haven't-met. The Stoic philosophy also appeals to me - it's not about being miserable but not showing it, but about freedom from misery. Much like Buddhism, actually. The difference, qualitatively, seems to be that Stoicism concentrates on overcoming the negative, whereas Epicureanism is about maximizing the positive. They are both valid paths to true happiness, I believe. And happiness, I believe, is the only thing worth anything!

One of my favorite quotes by Epicurus is: "Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us; seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not." I could fill pages up with Epicurus quotes, so for your sake I'll stop there. :-P

Edit: Okay, had to add one more. I've been morbid lately, maybe that's why. Often found on the tombstones of Epicureans and Stoics: "I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind."

Edit II: I hope someday to dedicate my life to pleasure. It's my personal occult theory that the more pleasure you experience, the more charged with pleasurions (the wave/particle responsible for magic and orgasms) you become. B)

Edit III: Also, look up Epicurus' final letter. A sage to the end!

This post has been edited by Vilhjalmr: Apr 19 2009, 01:48 AM

still rooted in the physical - pleasure is physical, so if the underlying mission is to generate memories for when you are not, then the more pleasure the better

withdrawal from the world is overrated, and ends up causing trouble

relaxing the physical control desire is the key

1. That wasn't my intention, but that's good to hear. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

2. I don't know; (almost) complete withdrawal seems idyllic, to me.

3. The desire for control?

we apparently volunteer to come here and incarnate into these bodies, and here we are stuck, bound by the silver cord, so withdrawal from the physical body causes dehumanization, where you just don't care about anything or anybody or even your own body, only living in your eternal existence that has no body, desire, pain, etc, but we can't maintain that withdrawal forever because the silver cord drags always you back to the physical eventually - i'm currently working on a different method, pulling down more of the soul into the body, but its slow going and an incredibly weird thing to do

as for having it all without work or toil, well this world is based on greed, and that means haves and have-nots, and to be one of the haves you have to take it from others - not the most enlightened way to run a planet, but, like being here, we are stuck with it, - and even worse we are tasked with making it better

suicide is not an answer because we just come back again and again until we get it right - rebellion against the government, etc is futile because they set the rules and they will just make more rules and persecute you



This post has been edited by esoterica: Apr 20 2009, 09:07 AM

The true essence of Man is serene. Therefore in truth everyone can find pleasure within themselves, that source of joy.
And to toil for it is nothing other than chasing shadows. Man, I have discovered, distant from the divine looks upon things with ungodly perception, this I believe to be the true meaning of the evil eye. When you take off the masks and look at life in its true essence you will be one with that true essence which is like a serenity incomprehensible while living through the masks but when you strip yourself naked will be completely intelligible.


Yeh he was a very wise and influential man, I would have loved to join him in his Garden. I came across stoicism also while looking into Epicurus(Epi Cure Us! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) ) but found an affinity towards Epicureanism.
One of my favourite quotes of his is: "It is impossible for someone to dispel his fears about the most important matters if he doesn't know the nature of the universe but still gives some credence to myths. So without the study of nature there is no enjoyment of pure pleasure."
Peace!

This post has been edited by al_zaine: Apr 20 2009, 05:42 PM