Day 7 ismismismismism

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief
that one's work is terribly important.
-Bertrand Russell

I have opened the great philosophical floodgates and am literally drowning in isms.

Last night, a friend suggested a day of hedonism. AMAZING. Absolutely bloody amazing. A day of indulging the senses I thought. But sweet mother of all things holy I truly am a product of the MTV generation...

Hedonism isn't quite what I thought it was. And fortunately I'm not alone in this misconception. A brief Google session later and I had been sold (not literally, unfortunately) a plethora of hedonistic holidays and experiences - whatever bordering-on-the-illegal services can be plastered on the internet. Perhaps my favourite is 'Hedonism Resorts - Notorious Adults Only, All-Inclusive Accommodations in Jamaica', who start casually with 'sleep in, stay up late, give up counting calories, give up mineral water' (???) and move swiftly onto 'pleasure comes in many forms. Choose one. Or two. Or more.' Err, enlighten me please, but what in all my glorious innocence am I choosing multiple quantities of?

Yep right, don't want to walk down that path. And without wanting to be so mind-numbingly dull in light of such abandoned pleasure, they misspell notorious on their website.

So rather predictably, hedonism is a philosophy from Ancient Greece. I knew it - those guys!! They completely mastered the art of Having a Good Time. Aristippus of Cyrene established an ultra-hedonist movement in the 4th century BC, teaching simply that pleasure and indulging the senses is the only source of intrinsic good. Fair dos, that's kind of what I had in mind. ALAS, no. Up steps party-pooper Epicurus and his self-titled Epicureanism (Rachelism??) asserting that yes, pleasure is still the only source of intrinsic good BUT this can be obtained through living a modest and virtuous life (tell that to the 'notorios'). He believed in an almost prudent asceticism that involved abstaining from physical desires. Squished by Christianity, hedonism lay dormant for several hundred years (I'm imagining a few secret wild societies) until Renaissance philosophers merged the two - Christianity and hedonism, not wild societies - and asserted that our desire for happiness should motivate us to behave morally. Finally, in more recent times, hedonism formed an integral part of utilitarianism, which in turn is part of consequentialism, and involves both ethical egoism or altruism (SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT ISMS. It's driving me insane).

Now essentially, I feel a little cheated by my naive concept of hedonism, and a little ashamed that I adhered much more to the philosophy of an adult-only hotel in northern Jamaica than the true history of the movement of hedonism. As with many things, it seems to have started off so pure (pure as in simple, not pure as in innocent... ancient Greeks were many things, but innocent they were not) and was put through the mangle of society (read religion) until it resembled whatever it was Those In Control wanted it to be. But at it's heart there is one of the best messages I've come across so far... whether it is indulging your senses or abstaining in the pursuit of a simple life, you should make yourself happy and yes this should be for your benefit but more that that, it should not harm anyone, not restrict anyone else from pursuing their own happiness, and should motivate altruistic behaviour to spread happiness. And that little gem is what I shall focus on today.