Hedonism. Analysis. Solution. Long.

To study this topic turn to the article (hedonism.greed).

It is no wonder that hedonism is chosen by the majority of people as a socially accepted way of life. Only social life provides the necessary conditions for it. Social consciousness gives motives for the endless strive for pleasure. The absence of the sense of harmony, measure, the lack of awareness enforce this need. Society provides the possibility to reduce the way of receiving pleasure (parasitic way of existence, stealing, prostitution, drug-addiction) by money which can be gained without personal working efforts.

The maximum amount of minds is focused on the maximum amount of plans and projects enabling to “simplify” the personal existence. At best this results in common selfishness – “I will produce goods, provide a service with the least expenses and with the highest benefits”, “let the others work, I may have a rest”, “I will give the society less than I want to get from it (pleasure and comfort)”. As a result there is a disbalance of the work done and the consummation of the goods and service. This disbalance is hardly compensated by “the workaholics” and nature with its resources which can be used without special expenses. It is obvious that the majority of people are indifferent to these global problems, “let the competent see to this problem”. Nevertheless the inner balance is also destroyed due to the hedonistic way of life. We have forgotten that we are part of nature, at least our biological aspect. Consequently the same natural laws of balance rule our lives in spite of any chosen scenario (hedonist, pacifist, moralist, oppositionist, ascetic). In case of hedonism we receive more pleasure than we deserve, ignoring the alarmed voice of the center of satiation. This is possible only due to the fact that we use the mobilization resource of pleasure, designed for the gradual, limited release according to the adequate reasons or special occasions (orgasm, victory, creative break0through). When we abuse it to its limits we take the risk of finding ourselves in a depressive state without any pleasure or will to live, not experiencing pleasure where it should be in normal state (food, family, job, hobby, sex). In extreme cases this may lead to death. The psychologists Olds and Miller came across the area of “pure happiness” in the brain of a rat in the course of experiments in 50es. Initially planning to cause pain they placed the electrodes almost in the center of the brain. They discovered that the rat kept on pushing the button closing the electric circuit. The further experiments proved that some species kept on activating the electric circuit almost without a break, up to 2000 times per hour, ignoring eating and sleeping. Nothing could stop a male rat from pushing the button, neither female rats, nor physical pain. The limbic zones of cortex cerebrum stimulated in rats in this experiment were formed at the dawn of evolution. They are common to all the mammals, including humans! The consciousness of people allows to trespass the natural harmony and to receive pleasure almost directly (drugs, alcohol, excessive sex, masturbation, eating of sweet). But the majority of people are not that “stupid” as to exhaust themselves to death as was the case with rats. That is why the receiving of pleasure is rationed in time and amount. In the opposite case a person must pay with the raising of the level of pleasure in order to experience it in the future. This explains the satiation with the old ways and the necessity to raise the power of irritation to get access to the remaining mobilization resource of the deeply hidden from the greedy the feeling of pleasure. Examples: the raising of dosage and frequency of drug taking with addicts, the changing of quantity and quality of food with food addicts, variations of forms and amount of sex with sexually addicted hedonists from normal to serious perversions, endless racing for enriching, power.

An interesting and for many people unknown fact is that the level of pleasure received from obtaining something new does not differ among the different social strata. If you are a top manager of a firm and change a middle-class car for a business-class one, the pleasure experienced by you will be the same as of a common office employee changing an old and cheap car for a relatively better one. Our psyche may offer us only limited, standard amount of pleasure. It is not of our psyche concern if we purchase a cheap ring or the one with a diamond-in both cases (in accordance with the purchased to the social level) the pleasure will be the same! Moreover it is impossible to fix the pleasure, because this is a process. In other words the amount of accumulated material objects, power, status, does not fix the pleasure on a higher level. Only the person whose possibilities are equal to his/her desires will win.

A very determined algorithm of behavior manages the life of a hedonist: obsession with pleasure, selfishness, augmentation and changing of the forms of getting pleasure, permanent unsatisfaction, depression and other psychic distortions. In my opinion the reasons to reject this way of life are more than enough. Not for everybody, unfortunately.

Solution: first of all you must see hedonistic your-self, or some manifestation of a hedonist. You should understand how these manifestations work in your life. Find the basic reasons maintaining this need. This may be the lack of pleasure in life or in some spheres of it. As the pleasure must be distributed evenly within our spheres of life, you should see to it. As with all the psychological problems the solution should be complex, it is not enough to change only towards hedonism, for other pathological algorithms will either bring it back or deepen their pathology. Hedonism could be only a compensation mechanism for other distortions. It is recommended to analyze what I can compensate with the help of hedonism and to solve the initial causes.

To develop the sense of harmony, measure, the ability to stop the endless hedonistic desires. It is necessary to understand that nobody and nothing will ever do it for us. Another person or supernatural being (God) may do it temporarily for us but, in this case we will be directly dependent of this person/being, suppressing the inner striving to hedonistic way of life. (obvious examples – drug-addiction cured with the help of religion).

To understand that the law of nature is valid: “you lose something and gains something”. Getting rid of hedonism you will obtain, return to its proper normal physiological place the work of positive and negative emotions and feelings. (they should be even).

To develop awareness will help to develop will-power. The latter enables to stop from the impulsive desire for pleasure and to overcome the self-destructive hedonism.

Listen to intuition, it will suggest when and where the satiation takes place (psychological needs).

Listen to your body, it will tell you where and when the satiation takes place (biological needs).