No explanation necessary. Here we go...
1. When you're hungry, you don't want to enjoy a delicious meal; you want to not slowly starve to death as your stomach eats itself, causing intense bloating and pain.
2. When you're thirsty, you don't want to enjoy a refreshing glass of water; you want to not die of dehydration.
3. When you feel like going on vacation, you don't want to enjoy a nice day at the beach; you want to not work anymore, or stop doing the activities that have thus exhausted you.
4. When you're tired, you don't want to enjoy a refreshing night of sleep; you want to not feel run-down and mentally impaired.
5. When you're in love with someone, you don't want to enjoy his or her company; you want to not be lonely, consumed by excessive solitude and feelings of inadequacy.
6. When you become interested in getting a hobby, you don't want to have something to do; you want to not be plagued by boredom and restlessness.
7. When you're cold, you don't want to put on a coat in order to feel the pleasing sensation of warmth; you want to not feel the uncomfortable sensation of coldness.
8. When thinking about watching a thought-provoking film, you don't want to have an entertaining and potentially enlightening experience; you want to not do everything else, because your psychological disposition has declared it all of less interest than watching the film at that exact moment.
9. When considering doing drugs, you don't want to get high; you want to not have to put up with the horrors of the world around you.
10. When desirous of a college degree, you don't want to pursue an education; you want to not be ignorant relative to your peers so that you may better socialize with and work alongside them, or get hired by an employer offering a higher salary.
You can't have good experiences without first feeling bad. If you let any of the above go, in their most extreme of manifestations, without attempting to take care of them, nature will punish you with: starvation, dehydration, work-induced stress, sleep deprivation (hallucinations, extreme exhaustion, panic attacks, depression, anxiety), intense loneliness, low self-esteem, poor social development, extreme boredom, general restlessness and aimlessness, frost bite, asthma attacks, general breathing problems, lost appendages, ignorance, relative poverty, and homelessness.
All pleasurable states are nothing more than relief from previous unpleasurable states.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this is true for all of them. You can view any pleasure as nothing more than a relief, but in the end what matters is how it is felt. Many of the examples you gave here are not experienced as "mere relief", but rather as a positively pleasurable thing. The thought of dying of dehydration or starvation doesn't cross my mind when I experience the everyday thirst or hunger.
Investing in any idea is foolish, given that attempting to prove the reliability of one's senses via one's senses is illogical.
I don't understand what you mean here. Is "investing" meant figuratively or literally (as in stock market)? If figuratively, then I'd say it's dead wrong -- I invest in the idea that eating will relieve my hunger every day. In either case, I don't see how to invest is to attempt to prove the reliability of one's senses.
Fast food is a convenient way to eat in modern society, and is usually better for you than a fatty slab of steak high in calories purchased at a fancy restaurant.
There seems to be a fair amount of evidence that fat is "not unhealthy" (which is as healthy as things get), and that carbohydrates (and grains in particular) are what causes so many people to have health problems. In the same vein, sunlight, exercise and "clean" air are not particularly necessary to maintain the body.
I don't know much about this stuff. The Plague Doctor does, but I think he doesn't read this blog. The book Good Calories, Bad Calories is often cited regarding fat; I don't remember where I heard the other stuff. I can dig up some sources if you're interested.
Gah, I am an idiot. That was intended as a comment on the latest post, obviously.
ReplyDelete"I'm not sure if this is true for all of them. You can view any pleasure as nothing more than a relief, but in the end what matters is how it is felt."
ReplyDeleteSo you agree with the statement, but don't find it terribly significant on its own? If so, I see it the same way, so there is no dispute, here.
"I don't understand what you mean here. Is 'investing' meant figuratively or literally (as in stock market)?"
It was meant literally, but economic investment is just one kind of investment.
"I don't see how to invest is to attempt to prove the reliability of one's senses."
I agree with you. A better way of wording what I meant might be "committing to an idea" as opposed to "investing in an idea."
"I don't remember where I heard the other stuff. I can dig up some sources if you're interested."
Go for it. I can't say I'm all that interested, but information is never harmful.
Also, to note on pleasure, even when your thirst is minimal, it's still on your mind as something that needs correcting, and is thus a distraction from the present moment. The more time that we spend thinking about things that we don't have, the less satisfied we are.
ReplyDeleteFurther, if you wait an extremely short while longer than usual before quenching your thirst, you're going to start feeling pretty badly. It doesn't take much before you wind up with chapped lips, a sore throat, and a soured mood.
I agree.
ReplyDeleteGo for it. I can't say I'm all that interested, but information is never harmful.
I'll put this off then; there's bigger fish to fry out there.
When you leave sarcastic comments on a stupid blog, you don't want to entertain people, you want the blogger to stop acting like sadistic probing is his moral duty.
ReplyDeleteAll correct. People who disagree don't realize what they are doing on a subconscious level. They dont understand that they are controlled by biology and not by what they remember feeling before the negative state was satisfied.
ReplyDelete