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12-14-2013, 08:05 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Aug 2012
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Hedonism
Do you guys have experience in the religious aspects of hedonism?
During college one of my best friends was a Hindu priest. We had a moment together and he said something that has burned holes in my mind.
He said that while he was training for priesthood he learned three ways to achieve it. The first was to be born into it. The second was to be schooled into it, which was his path.
The third was to learn from failure, e.g. hedonism.
We had that conversation when we were in our twenties. Twenty years later there is one part of that conversation that echoes -- my friend said that he didn't believe in the perspective of hedonism until he met me.
To this day I don't trust religious leaders unless they speak as close to the truth as he did.
We never became common friends, but the quiet moment we shared made me realize the fine line that real politics dances on.
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12-14-2013, 08:35 PM
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Admin
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain in California
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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
- Mr. Underhill
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12-14-2013, 08:38 PM
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Admin
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Join Date: Dec 2011
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More serious now. As far as I can see, hedonism and religion are antithetical. Then we had the rise of the televangelists in the '70s and '80s.
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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
- Mr. Underhill
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12-15-2013, 06:00 AM
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Reformed Know-Nothing
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: MoCo, MD
Posts: 25,907
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobabode
More serious now. As far as I can see, hedonism and religion are antithetical. Then we had the rise of the televangelists in the '70s and '80s.
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Given the choice, I'll pick hedonism. Every time.
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As long as the roots are not severed, all will be well in the garden.
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12-15-2013, 06:55 AM
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Area Man
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: The Swamp
Posts: 27,407
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I know a woman who raised in strict religious family. She followed the religious path to please her family, an ordained Minister and holds a Master of Divinity. Then, she went back to college one more time seeking some other Theology degree and fell to the temptation of Hedonism. Even worked as a stripper and occasionally ".....other things that I'm not too proud of." for a couple years. Sex-n-drugs and Rock-n-Roll, BABY!
Now, she's confused. She'll quote Bible verse while discussing what's wrong with todays society in one breath, then strike up a conversation about BDSM/oral/anal/bisexual/group sex and the effects of mixing weed and alcohol with cocaine in the next.
Dave
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"When the lie is so big and the fog so thick, the Republican trick can play out again....."-------Frank Zappa
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12-15-2013, 08:01 AM
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Resident octogenarian
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 20,860
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The current defenition of hedonism sems to be only concerned with sex whereas it used to mean that pleasure was the highest good, so define pleasure. Surely one can find pleasure in many ways and places.
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Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
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12-15-2013, 08:14 AM
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Ready
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 19,161
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Quote:
Originally Posted by merrylander
The current defenition of hedonism sems to be only concerned with sex whereas it used to mean that pleasure was the highest good, so define pleasure. Surely one can find pleasure in many ways and places.
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Exactly. People always identify 'hedonism' with various extremes. Can't one be a hedonist and enjoy walks in the park and afternoon tea?
It can of course be argued that many churchies are hedonists too--they just enjoy being respectable churchgoers.
What goes on, though, is that persons who have totally rejected certain areas of pleasure, due to adherence to strict rules, have no judgement and experience to enable them to exercise any restraint, if they let the rules go.
A quote has turned up that notes this pattern:
When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, Idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.
- Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946
www.qotd.org
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12-15-2013, 08:53 AM
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Area Man
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: The Swamp
Posts: 27,407
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I thought that was "indulgence"?
Dave
__________________
"When the lie is so big and the fog so thick, the Republican trick can play out again....."-------Frank Zappa
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12-15-2013, 12:29 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 10,348
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Quote:
Originally Posted by donquixote99
A quote has turned up that notes this pattern:
When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, Idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.
- Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946
www.qotd.org
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Funny you should bring that up.
I've noticed than when a lot of people crawl out of the gutter and ascent to their Ivory Tower they become Idealists. Often insufferable Idealists.
Or in the words of Cap't Jack, "There ain't no sumbitch like a REFORMED sumbitch."
Chas
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12-15-2013, 02:15 PM
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Ready
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 19,161
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Interesting lives these people have, anyway.
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