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OPINION
| february 11, 2004
Guest Column
Deeper Joy
True happiness won’t be
found in hedonistic pleasure
By Gus Jimenez-Vera
Contributor to The Shorthorn
On the Jan. 30 opinion page, a column about moral relativism and
hedonism shed some light on our culture. The suggested solution
to the problems caused by this way of life was based on the Judeo-Christian
tradition. This solution is great, but bringing truth, virtue, order
and beauty back to the streets won’t be easy. Our neo-hedonist
culture is stepping all over our non-materialistic principles, mainly
truth and virtue.
Neo-hedonists sometimes fail to recognize that they stand on a slippery
slope because they do not even know that they are becoming this
way. Epicurus, the main promoter of this philosophy, writes in his
Letter to Menoeceus: “We recognize pleasure as the first good
innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and
avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as
the standard by which we judge every good.”
If we let ourselves be led by the moment, and if we set our feelings
as the standard by which we judge every good, then we become slaves
to our bodies. We are not just machines made of genes and hormones
that were set in motion in order to look for what most pleases our
earthly desires.
Many philosophers, great thinkers, and religious leaders have told
us that nobody can find true happiness by going against the natural
order of creation. To achieve this happiness, we need to go to the
Original Designer and shape our lives in accordance with His design.
Neo-hedonism is now in all sectors of society, and people look only
for what most pleases them. A familiar example is Spring Break.
What are we really looking for? Having a good time with friends,
or having a splash of crazy feelings running in our veins? The money
makers that run tourism companies use their advertisements to excite
our animal instincts in order to make money out of our carnal desires
(crazy beach parties and excessive drinking). Moreover, some parents,
teachers, and civil institutions do not know how to give advice
to the future of the world, they just say “Stay safe.”
But what is that? Are they also partaking in the building of the
neo-hedonist society? Why just “stay safe”? Is it because
our material value is more precious than our moral value or because
safety and health are more important than our moral and spiritual
value?
In order to destroy the neo-hedonist style we need to live examined
lives. We need to ask ourselves why we do what we do. What are we
really looking for by starting a diet, drinking in excess, dating
someone, eating at all times or doing a good deed just for the sake
of the pleasure we feel afterwards? Do we do things for our own
enjoyment or do we seek the truth and happiness that goes beyond
our nature?
—Gus Jimenez-Vera is a civil engineering junior.
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