To me, hedonism is about fun. It's about enjoying life. It's about happiness, both achieving it and bringing it to others. It's about saying fuggit when it comes to issues: don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff.
I agree. I feel like if you're miserable then your life is totally pointless. I feel like a lot of people work hard just for the sake of it. They might live to regret that.
To me it is the mindless absorption in physical pleasure. It doesn't seem like a very deep or intellectual way of life to me. I mean, hedonism is pretty much the name of the game these days, and look where it has gotten society. Rampant STDs and unwanted pregnancies are just two of the untoward results of hedonism, so overall I don't think it's been a very positive thing from a societal aspect.
I look to be happy, as well...but happiness and what makes someone happy can be different for different people.
You can be intelligent and competent and still be a hedonist. An example is to earn your keep. Another is to pursue knowledge in areas of interest.
Most hedonists don't practice it all the time. We just draw lines in different places. For example, if you wouldn't hesitate to have sex in front of other people (if they are not the type that would be offended) you might be a hedonist, but you might not do that sort of thing regularly.
Hedonism is allowed in eastern philosophy, as long as it follows righteousness. Kama (pleasure ) is considered as one of the legitimate pursuits of life, and a life full of righteousness (dharma) devoid of kama or pleasure is considered incomplete. Kama (pleasure), artha (wealth), dharma (righteousness) and moksha ( enlightenment/liberation) are considered as the legitimate and proper goals of human life in ascending order. But at the same time, one also understands that all objective pleasures results in suffering in the long run, due to the factor of impermanence. It is in youth when the body is healthy that one can enjoy sense-pleasures, but the issue is different when the body inevitably ages. There are senile men and women who enjoy sense-pleasures but cannot enjoy them with their deteriorated bodies. Similarly you cannot ensure that the sense-pleasure you enjoy is constant in life. A colleague whose company you deeply enjoy may be transferred in work to an another site or place or leave for further studies, leaving one in pain and sense of loss. Also there is a satiation factor. You can enjoy a sense-pleasure, say good food, music, scents or sex but continuous repetition reduces the pleasure factor, and brings with it boredom and dullness. You can see bored, dull looks on the faces and eyes of youth full of partying and sensory pleasures, after a period of time. Thus hedonism is good in short term happiness but is no guarantee for long term joy and happiness. If wisdom is properly employed while enjoying sense-pleasures, keeping in mind their transient nature, you can ensure that you enjoy them as a master able to detach at will , and thus getting the best out of life. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, have philosophically stated this with respect to sense-pleasures, " My Sikhs (disciples) shall enjoy the pleasures of the world, and at the same time will be detached from it. " I would say that this is the proper hedonistic attitude. Lack of detachment brings with it inevitable pain and that would be masochism , not hedonism.
the hedonic perspective and secular humanity will be the predominant views when ignorance and god based idiocy finally shift paradigm to something pragmatic a god based humanity will never populate space because they will self destruct.
