My New Age Philosophy: New Age Hedonism

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MozartLink
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Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2014 6:42 pm

My New Age Philosophy: New Age Hedonism

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Note: I have been trying to support my worldview with all of these technical arguments which were very convoluted and incoherent to many people. I have finally come to the realization that this is the wrong approach. Therefore, I will just explain my whole theory/philosophy from a personal point of view which is, hopefully, an effective approach at conveying my worldview:

Thesis: Our positive emotions are an objective good and our negative emotions are an objective bad. The objective good and bad is beyond words. It is beyond any reasoning. It is pure energy itself. Like I said, it would be our emotions. So, our positive emotions are the inner light to our lives while our negative emotions are the inner darkness to our lives. This might sound like religious preaching to you, but this is my own personal worldview. I think it is true.

I would like to share to you my worldview/philosophy. It not only applies to my daily life, but also to my composing dream. It is a worldview that I have learned from my own personal struggles. I think our emotions are everything to our lives. I do not agree that one's life can truly be perceived as anything good, beautiful, and worthwhile without one's positive emotions and that one cannot truly perceive anything bad, misery, despair, hate, etc. without his negative emotions. As a side note, positive emotions would be feelings of euphoria which are biochemical induced states by serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin. They could be feelings of joy, love, or a feeling of relaxation. Negative emotions would be feelings of dysphoria such as a feeling of despair, hopelessness, etc.

But like I was saying, there is a big difference between acknowledging the good and bad qualities of your life as opposed to actually seeing (perceiving) them. A blind person could very well acknowledge the existence of objects and choose to avoid or pursue certain objects just as how we could still acknowledge good and bad situations without our emotions and choose to avoid or pursue certain situations, but it is only our emotions that allow us to truly see the good and bad values of our lives. However, even without emotions, I would still agree that our value judgments are vital so that we can make wise decisions anyway. But they, themselves, are no way to live or be an artist.

Our negative emotions and misery are also no way to live or be an artist either regardless of how much success and inspiration we have brought to others. I will tell you why. I have every reason to think that our emotions are like the forces of light and darkness to our inner selves. The positive emotions would be sheer objective goodness itself (the force of light) while our negative emotions would be sheer objective badness itself (the force of darkness). Without our inner light, then we truly have nothing. Sure, our inner darkness can certainly inspire us, but it is nothing but darkness and, thus, no way to live or be an artist. It is like being devoid of the light of god. Without his holy light of joy and goodness, then our lives and artistic endeavors could only amount to nothing to us.

Although, we could certainly delude ourselves into thinking otherwise due to not being awakened to the truth and realization of the inner light that we need in our lives. When I say that our emotions are objectively good and bad, I do not mean that they are good and bad in the sense of something such as saying that they are good and bad for the benefit of the human race. I mean that our emotions are literally good and bad. When I get a profound beautiful positive emotion from nature or a song, then that emotional state is pure goodness itself. Not because it has taken me away from all the frustration and stress going on in my life. But instead because this conscious state is like a divine state. It is sheer goodness itself and no power in this universe compares to it.

The more of this inner light I have in my life, the more of a beautiful being of light I become and the greater the good value and beauty I perceive in my life. The less of this light I have, then the less my life and being is. Take important note here that when I am using terms such as the divine and god, this is just a metaphor/analogy to artistically express my worldview. I am actually undecided on the existence of god, the paranormal, and the afterlife. However, this analogy could apply to a purely naturalistic universe. In a purely naturalistic universe, our emotions would simply be objective goodness and badness with no god or spiritual darkness attached. But continuing on here. I personally do not think that famous and genius artists who have struggled with depression and misery had the inner light at all.

Since they did not have their positive emotions or, at least, had a small degree of them, then their lives and artistic endeavors could only amount to virtually nothing. They might have believed otherwise and achieved magnificent goals. As a matter of fact, some of them could have been masochists who loved their misery. However, they were falsely judging their miserable emotional state as something beautiful (the inner light) when it was nothing but the inner darkness. I personally do not think that the inner light and inner darkness (the objective goodness and badness) can take on any other form for us besides our emotions. Have you ever heard people say that our emotions are everything to our human existence and that, without them, we would only be like machines?

I have heard this saying quite often myself. Therefore, since our emotions are the absolute higher component to our human existence, then they would have to be the inner light and darkness to our lives. But our goal should purge and rid of the darkness out of our lives since it is no good. We should be like sacred monks who seek the light and destroy all the darkness from our inner being. This means that all art, whether it be tragic, gothic, or beautiful, should solely be inspired by positive emotions. All endeavors such as escaping from danger should also be solely motivated by positive emotions as well. We would, thus, have no need for negative emotions. Positive emotions are the only way to live and they are the only way to be an artist. Having neither the light nor the darkness would be the void. It would be an empty life that is neither perceived as good nor bad. Thoughts themselves are just words going through our mind and nothing more.

So, if you were in a completely apathetic state such as due to a mental condition such as anhedonia, then you would be living out the motions based upon nothing more than words going through your mind. They would be words of goodness, joy, beauty, or horrible, but it is only the light which can make those words real in your life and it is only the darkness which can make the badness in your life real. But thoughts themselves do make us feel positive or negative emotions. So, I am not dismissing thoughts altogether here. All I am saying is that they, themselves, are no way to live or be an artist. I have struggled with much emotional trauma in my life and people have told me to change my thinking during my worst miserable moments.

This did absolutely nothing for me since I needed my inner light. It really gets to me when people dismiss my inner light and act as though value judgments are the only things that determine the value and worth of one's life. I think that is pure nonsense. It is both inconsiderate and dismissive of my higher, humanistic needs. It is treating me as nothing more than just some machine who is expected to live by words alone. Likewise, people would tell me that my misery being horrible for me was nothing more than my way of looking at it and judging it as horrible.

I simply do not agree with others who would say that it is a matter of my value judgment because, again, this is something so horrible that it goes beyond words. No words (value judgments) can possibly possess such horrible power. I think humanity needs to be enlightened and awakened to the light and darkness rather than pretending that it does not exist. I do realize that things and situations can hold their own objective values. But there is also another objective goodness and badness in this universe and that would be the light and darkness. It is a form of beauty, goodness, joy, badness, etc. that goes beyond words.

To conclude this packet, in any given event or situation I lose my positive emotions such as due to depression, emotional trauma, etc., I would give up on my composing and wait until I fully reach a recovery again so that I can finally celebrate and embrace the good qualities of my life and composing through my positive emotions. I absolutely cannot stand living my life and composing without my inner light which is the very reason why I just give up. However, I am doing just fine now. I am fully recovered and have my inner light back to me again. But the question is, can any advice or worldviews of others help me? I don't think so. I am firmly convinced of the existence of the light and darkness. No other worldview or advice could ever work or convince me otherwise since such advice and worldviews only serve to deny and dismiss my inner light and darkness.

Mixed Emotions: Now, if you were in a situation where you had mixed emotions, then you would be perceiving both good and bad value at the same time. It would be something like 20% good and 80% bad in regards to certain things and situations. It all depends on the degree of positive and negative emotions that are there. So, the fact that these miserable genius artists still saw their lives and art as beautiful means they would have to have had some degree of positive emotion mixed in. Otherwise, they would just be deluding themselves.

Other Person's Response: I realize how vital and precious the inner light is. You are right. Without our inner light, then our lives would either be empty or complete darkness. However, the inner light wouldn't be some sort of objectively good divine energy in this universe becoming a part of our conscious being. Rather, all it would simply be here is just your way of looking at things. It is truly nothing more than a positive outlook on life in despite of misery and hardships.

My Reply: I don't think so. I think your way of thinking would also have to depend upon this objectively good divine energy taking on the form of your mindset. Anyone who tells me to just live in the moment and forget about this objectively good divine energy means they have no idea. They dismiss my higher, humanistic need and treat me as nothing more than just some machine. But living a life of misery and hopelessness would literally be the worst standard to live by.

Now, if we are living in a spiritual universe though, our brains would be like transceivers that pick up on energy in this universe. This is divine spiritual energy that engulfs our conscious being. This divine energy takes on the form of a conscious state in our lives which would be our positive emotions. These positive emotions are what allow us to perceive good value, joy, beauty, etc. in such a way that goes far beyond simply acknowledging these qualities. So, it is through our positive emotions that we truly experience these good qualities.

If humanity were to be enlightened to the truth of all of this, then I would be merely a messenger of truth awakening humanity to the light which is the real standard to live by. Scientists would then be encouraged to find cures for illnesses that take away our inner light such as depression and anhedonia. They would focus on creating a blissful utopia life for us all in the distant future and my theory/worldview would be an established basis for such a utopia life in the distant future. A utopia life would be the life meant for people and artists alike since such a life would offer us the greatest and most profound light in our lives. It is how we and artists were truly meant to live and create art. We as human beings would be ensured bliss (the inner light) all of the time in our lives.

It would truly be the most heavenly paradise for us all. Anyone who thinks that such a life would be hell or torment would have to be delusional. They would be falsely judging the light as being horrible when it was truly nothing but sheer goodness itself. Just as how those miserable genius artists were falsely judging their misery as being the inner light, people can also misjudge the inner light as being the inner darkness as well. Since the inner light is sheer goodness, then it can never lose its goodness. This means that, as long as you have the inner light, then your life can be nothing but good and beautiful. In other words, I could literally live forever in a blissful life and such a life would never lose its good value and beauty as long as I have the inner light I need.

Other Person's Response: You said that other people are being inconsiderate and dismissive towards your values and needs. But I think you are the one being inconsiderate and dismissive towards others, their needs, and their values because you go on to say that these miserable genius artists were living a life that was truly dead and empty.

My Reply: What it all comes down to is who is right and who is wrong. Who is the deluded one here? Perhaps a scientific experiment of some sort can settle this issue. If my theory/worldview would have empirical evidence to support it, then I would have been right this entire time. Just because you are a genius does not mean you are right. As a matter of fact, there were many geniuses with false beliefs.

Other Person's Response: Your worldview sounds quite unique, innovative, and fascinating. What would you call your worldview?

My Reply: I would call it New Age Hedonism. It is putting a new age/spiritual spin on hedonism. Hedonism is the idea of maximizing pleasure (positive emotions) and minimizing pain (negative emotions). This version of hedonism I am advocating is like a sacred monk who seeks the light and to subdue all darkness from his inner being.

Since positive emotions are objectively good and negative emotions being objectively bad, then having no emotions at all would have to be objectively neutral (neither good nor bad). Positive emotions would be the objectively good standard of living, negative emotions would be the objectively bad standard of living, while having no emotions at all would be the objectively neutral standard of living. This means that positive emotions are truly the only way to live and be an artist since, without them, then your life can only amount to shit or just plain nothing.

Positive emotions are the only things that can make our lives matter to us in good ways, negative emotions are the only things that can make things matter to us in bad ways, while having no emotions at all would be a life where nothing could matter to you one way or the other. You could have thoughts of things mattering to you and you could still do things such as helping others without emotions, but nothing would actually matter to you. So, when something matters to you, that is actually an emotional state rather than a mindset or outlook (i.e. thought state). This is because emotions are forms of motivation that make things matter to us.
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