The Paradox of Pleasure

Why hedonism is self-defeating.

Photo by Uday Mittal on Unsplash

Much of the suffering that characterizes our age of anxiety stems, ironically, from our culture’s embrace of hedonism.

This is because the direct pursuit of pleasure is self-defeating. The same is true of fleeing from displeasure (pain, discomfort, anxiety), as in the case of procrastination, issue avoidance, self-indulgence, and other forms of “mood repair.”

The direct pursuit of pleasure and relief never satisfies. The pleasure and relief so obtained is quickly reversed by regret and a growing insatiable yearning for ever more fleeting fixes of pleasure and relief.

The way to break that vicious cycle is to set your sights, not on emotional “fixes,” but on worthy aims, approximating the ideal as closely as you can.

The closer your actions approach your ideals, the more your psyche will reward you with satisfying pleasure. “Seek ye first” the ideal, and satisfying pleasure “shall be added unto you.”

Pleasure is not something to be caught, but something to be won by seeking the ideal. Feelings of pleasure and displeasure should be considered, not as objectives or problems in and of themselves, but as signposts indicating how much we are approaching or veering away from the ideal. That is the natural function of feelings.

This is the paradox of pleasure:

• The more you chase pleasure directly, the more it will slip through your fingers.

• The more you flee from displeasure, the more you will find yourself in its clutches.

• The less you worry about satisfaction for its own sake, the more it will grace you.

Seek ye first worthy aims, and fulfillment shall be added unto you.