posted on December 2, 2009 at 11:51 am by Khali

“…[the Utopians] chief subject of dispute is the nature of human happiness - on what factor or factors does it depend? Here they seem rather too much inclined to take a hedonistic view, for according to them human happiness consists largely or wholly in pleasure. Surprisingly enough, they defend this self-indulgent doctrine by arguments drawn from religion - a thing normally associated with a more serious view of life, if not with gloomy asceticism. You see, in all their discussions of happiness they invoke certain religious principles to supplement the operations of reason, which they think otherwise ill-equipped to identify true happiness.

The first principle is that every soul is immortal, and was created by a kind God, Who meant it to be happy. The second is that we shall be rewarded or punished in the next world for our good or bad behaviour in this one. Although these are religious principles, the Utopians find rational grounds for accepting them. For suppose you don’t accept them? In that case, they say, any fool can tell you what you ought to do. You should go all out for your own pleasure, irrespective of right and wrong. You’d merely have to make sure that minor pleasures didn’t interfere with major ones and avoid the type of pleasure that has painful after-affects. For what’s the sense of struggling to be virtuous, denying yourself the pleasant things in life, and deliberately making yourself uncomfortable if there’s nothing you hope to gain by it? And what can you hope to gain by it, if you receive no compensation after death for a thoroughly unpleasant, that is, thoroughly miserable life?

…according to the normal view, happiness is the summum bonum towards which we’re naturally impelled by virtue - which in their definition means following one’s natural impulses, as God meant us to do. But this includes obeying the instinct to be reasonable in our likes and dislikes. And reason also teaches us, first to love and reverence Almighty God, to Whom we owe our existence and our potentiality for happiness, and secondly to get through life as comfortably and cheerfully as we can, and to help all other members of our species to do so too.

The fact is, even the sternest ascetic tends to be slightly inconsistent in his condemnation of pleasure. He may sentence you to a life of hard labour, inadequate sleep, and general discomfort, but he’ll also tell you to do your best to ease the pains and privations of others. He’ll regard all such attempts to improve the human situation as laudable acts of humanity - for obviously nothing could be more humane, or more natural for a human being, than to relieve other people’s sufferings, put and end to their miseries, and restore their joie de vivre, that is, their capacity for pleasure. So why shouldn’t it be equally natural to do the same thing for oneself?

Either it’s a bad thing to enjoy life, in other words, to experience pleasure - in which case you shouldn’t help anyone to do it, but should try to save the whole human race from such a frightful fate - or else, if its good for other people, and you’re not only allowed, but positively obliged to make it possible for them, why shouldn’t charity begin at home? After all, you’ve a duty to yourself as well as to your neighbour, and, if Nature says you must be kind to others, she can’t turn around the next moment and say you must be cruel to yourself. The Utopians therefore regard the enjoyment of life - that is, pleasure - as the natural object of all human efforts, the natural, as they define it, is synonymous with virtuous. However, Nature also wants us to help one another to enjoy life, for the very good reason that no human being has a monopoly of her affections. She’s equally anxious for the welfare of every member of the species. So of course she tells us to make quite sure that we don’t pursue our own interests at the expense of other people’s…”

from Utopia (book II) - Thomas More

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hello, 2009

posted on January 6, 2009 at 7:27 pm by Khali

The new year is upon us and tradition begs a recap of the previous year and resolutions for the next. Since it’s ankle-deep in rain outside I’ve been spending a lot of time indoors listening to it drown out the sound of the traffic and thinking.

In a nutshell, 2008 had a few more lows than it did highs and as a result I spent a lot of time hibernating. No more of that in 2009 I tell you. I’m going to do my best to thwart the evil procrastination monster that has taken over my life. I need to find out why I do it and then stop. Procrastination and compulsive lying. I find things coming out of my mouth lately that are complete bullshit and I shock myself. When did that start? it’s a recent thing, but totally silly, like I can’t admit that I don’t know certain things for whatever reason and I have to stop that (and I know I can because I did it for a brief period in junior high, it’s just a matter of being more aware). I’m well on the way, but it’s work! “Do you know how to fill out that report?” “Oh yeah” and there I am thinking WTF just came out of my stupid mouth? Jeebus. If I’ve done it to you, I apologise.

I think also, that I may change careers. In 2008 I learned that I am not made to be a boss. At least not yet. I can’t seem to wrap my mind around being an authority figure and it’s starting to tell here. (Ok, having several employees just up and leave does nothing for the self esteem either, even though they were unrelated to my managing style - which up until now has been “oh I can do that tomorrow” …see? stupid.)

And then there is the field of relationships. One could call that a minefield, actually. I’ve been thinking rather hard and deep about that particular sphere of late for myriad reasons.

I think the human heart is a peculiar animal. In fact, it really is much like an animal, operating on the most base of instincts. It likes the things that give it pleasure and despises the things that cause it pain. it craves attention from those it deems important in it’s life, be it parent, sibling or partner and when it does not get the attention it feels it deserves, it will do things to get it back, and sometimes even go to extremes of bad behaviour to get it and so end up tangled in a knot of it’s own making which causes said heart more pain than it would otherwise have experienced (if it had only listened to it’s counterpart).

But thankfully the human heart is not left to its own devices. It has the aide of the mind. Of course, the mind has to work overtime sometimes not to be overruled by the blind reflexes of the heart, and is often overwhelmed by raw emotion, but it can shed perspective on the behaviours of itself, and of others to help guide the heart to actions and reactions that affect deeper and more positive relationships.

I’m working now for one of those deeper and more positive relationships.

Happy New Year.

listening to: the endless rain
reading: The Dragonbone Chair - Tad Williams
word count: you’re looking at it
eating: chili
drinking: pepsi and wishing there was rum in it (but where’s the rum gone?)
feeling: small
headspace: thoughtful

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posted on December 8, 2008 at 11:42 am by Khali

“Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.

“Art also has its morality, and many of the rules of this morality are the same as, or at least analogous to, the rules of ordinary ethics. Remorse, for example, as as undesirable in relation to our bad art as it is in relation to our bad behaviour. The badness should be hunted out acknowledged, and, if possible, avoided in the future.To pore over the literary shortcomings of twenty years ago, to attempt to patch a faulty work into the perfection it missed at its first execution, to spend one’s middle age in trying to mend the artistic sins committed and bequeathed by that different person who was oneself in youth - all this is surely vain and futile…”

~Aldous Huxley, 1946 [from the forward to the 1950 edition of Brave New World]

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