Amerika

Philosophy can be a dry topic that ends with prescriptions for optimum behavior in order to maximize options and minimize risk. However, all most people really want to know is the nature of the meaning of life and how to live a good life.

The answers will disappoint them, of course. The meaning of life is life itself because anything else is an absence of life, and life affords options. To live a good life, figure out who you are and what makes you feel fulfilled, but there is no universal prescription of what that is.

Most philosophy, in my view, forgets the hedonic imperative: life should be pleasurable.

We know that we exist to adapt to our environment and thrive if we can. If the purpose of life is living, then to live we must adapt, but “live” takes on a new dimension per Maslow once the basics of survival are achieved, because then life must become a rewarding pursuit in itself.

People get so caught up in what they fear, they forget to strive.

We can strive for a life that is not just functional, but aesthetically appealing and imbued with satisfaction. The hedonic imperative does not refer to surface sensuality, but a sense of enjoying the process of being alive and where one is in the Order of Things.

It speaks to goal: our aim is to make life more intense, beautiful, interesting, and enjoyable at all levels. This guides every other aim we have, but those are conveniently harmonious to it. You want a thriving eternal civilization so you can enjoy it and its fruits.

This might be the cornerstone of a philosophy we could call Hessianism, since it is derived from the culture of heavy metal music. We do not want “safe” or good-versus-evil; we want life to be an inspiring and informative experience that is pleasurable.

It is not Utopian. Pleasure cannot exist on the surface level which would be an unbroken stream of pleasant sensations. Pleasure comes from reflecting on life as a whole and realizing that despite its downsides, we really enjoy being alive.

That includes making choices, the ability to be creative or productive, and the maintenance of great things because they bring pleasure. There should always be Beethoven symphonies and the first six Darkthrone albums. There should always be idyllic English towns.

Nature favors texture created from niche adaptations rather than uniformity, so the pleasures of life must involve unique situations and variations more than “perfect” and “pure” ideals. It also favors quality over quantity, so there will be a topography of experiences of varying joy.

The pleasurable life is not surface pleasure because uniformity of that would be boring and therefore, unpleasurable. It is an adventure measured in power and prosperity, strength and wisdom, and the transcendent triumph of these being more pleasurable than the pain required to attain them.

The Hedonic Imperative holds that we design our minds and actions so that life is constantly made more pleasurable. This gets us away from avoid-evil binary morality, and has us instead look toward possibilities and potentials which outshine our fears.

Tags: hedonic imperative, hessianism, pleasure