I would like to share my personal religion
I would like to share to you my own personal religion. I have a hedonistic view on spirituality. Hedonism is a philosophy which states that pleasure (the positive emotions) are the only good things in life and that displeasure (the negative emotions) are the only bad things in life. So, this philosophy says that it can only be us having fun, being happy, and enjoying our lives through our positive emotions that makes our lives something beautiful, joyful, and worth living for.
But, what if you were to combine hedonism with spirituality? It would be my worldview which I would call Spiritual Hedonism or New Age Hedonism. According to this worldview/religion, positive emotions are the holy or divine inner light. Without it, then we can only be empty vessels or beings of darkness and negativity through our negative emotions. Having no emotions renders us as the empty vessels while having negative emotions such as hate, despair, and misery fill us with inner darkness/negativity.
Having the holy inner light (positive emotions) allows us to perceive things, moments, people, and situations in our lives as something good, beautiful, positive, and worth living for. Having the inner darkness (negative emotions) allows us to perceive things, moments, people, and situations in our lives as something horrible, disgusting, negative, tragic, morbid, disturbing, etc. In other words, emotions are the perception of value. They are states of mind where we perceive value.
We cannot perceive any value in our lives independent of our emotions and you would have to be delusional and in denial to believe otherwise. In other words, our intellect, morality, and character alone does not allow us to perceive/experience value. Without our emotions, then we could only have ideas, beliefs, and thoughts of value in our minds. But we wouldn't be able to actually perceive that value. Now, our brains would be receivers that pick up on divine spiritual energy in this universe. This energy engulfs our being which puts us into a divine mental state known as a positive emotional state.
But if this reception were to be blocked off due to brain damage or some mental illness such as clinical depression which prevents you from feeling positive emotions, then you would have nothing positive in your life. Your life would be nothing good or beautiful for the time being until you regain those positive emotions back to you again. It's sad because positive emotions are very fleeting things and they are the only things that can make our lives something beautiful and positive.
So, the next time you feel a positive emotion such as a feeling of excitement to go to the carnival, sexual arousal, or a feeling of profound beauty and joy, do not ignore and dismiss that emotion as being nothing more than just a feeling. It is something far more than that. It is everything to your human existence. It is the perception of beauty and joy in your life which makes your whole entire reality something beautiful and joyful.
I would describe positive emotions as being divine, holy, magnificent, and transcending states. They transcend you into the heavens, so to speak, and they make you and your life something awesome. But I would describe the negative emotions as being descending states. They lower you down into the realm of darkness and negativity since they can make you feel disgust about yourself and they can make you feel morbid and miserable.
But, what if you were to combine hedonism with spirituality? It would be my worldview which I would call Spiritual Hedonism or New Age Hedonism. According to this worldview/religion, positive emotions are the holy or divine inner light. Without it, then we can only be empty vessels or beings of darkness and negativity through our negative emotions. Having no emotions renders us as the empty vessels while having negative emotions such as hate, despair, and misery fill us with inner darkness/negativity.
Having the holy inner light (positive emotions) allows us to perceive things, moments, people, and situations in our lives as something good, beautiful, positive, and worth living for. Having the inner darkness (negative emotions) allows us to perceive things, moments, people, and situations in our lives as something horrible, disgusting, negative, tragic, morbid, disturbing, etc. In other words, emotions are the perception of value. They are states of mind where we perceive value.
We cannot perceive any value in our lives independent of our emotions and you would have to be delusional and in denial to believe otherwise. In other words, our intellect, morality, and character alone does not allow us to perceive/experience value. Without our emotions, then we could only have ideas, beliefs, and thoughts of value in our minds. But we wouldn't be able to actually perceive that value. Now, our brains would be receivers that pick up on divine spiritual energy in this universe. This energy engulfs our being which puts us into a divine mental state known as a positive emotional state.
But if this reception were to be blocked off due to brain damage or some mental illness such as clinical depression which prevents you from feeling positive emotions, then you would have nothing positive in your life. Your life would be nothing good or beautiful for the time being until you regain those positive emotions back to you again. It's sad because positive emotions are very fleeting things and they are the only things that can make our lives something beautiful and positive.
So, the next time you feel a positive emotion such as a feeling of excitement to go to the carnival, sexual arousal, or a feeling of profound beauty and joy, do not ignore and dismiss that emotion as being nothing more than just a feeling. It is something far more than that. It is everything to your human existence. It is the perception of beauty and joy in your life which makes your whole entire reality something beautiful and joyful.
I would describe positive emotions as being divine, holy, magnificent, and transcending states. They transcend you into the heavens, so to speak, and they make you and your life something awesome. But I would describe the negative emotions as being descending states. They lower you down into the realm of darkness and negativity since they can make you feel disgust about yourself and they can make you feel morbid and miserable.
Comments (17)
There's a difference between having fun and being happy. Quoting TranscendedRealms
Satisfying your urges doesn't always lead to happiness.
I define positive emotions as happiness though. So, if you felt positive emotions, you would be happy for the time being until you become miserable later on.
Quoting TranscendedRealms
A transcendent state is defined as beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience. Positive emotions are normal, and I guess based in corporeal experience.
Then that's an idiosyncratic view of happiness that doesn't comport with the generally accepted notion that happiness entails a certain contentment that lasts longer than the hit of crack in your pipe.
That's not at all logical. A religion of one would be a religion of one.
Like, satisfying the urge to kill only leads to medium range happiness, because getting rid of one asshole merely creates the necessary opening for the next asshole in line. After a moderate period of time, the replacement asshole becomes a total pain, and the killer urge arises again. A cycle develops. Perhaps if one could get rid of the entire line of assholes, one's happiness would be enduring.
The trouble is, we don't know where the line ends. For all we know, the line of assholes is infinite, and therefore there is no possibility of getting rid of all of them, and thus, no possibility of perpetual happiness either.
Transcendent Realms' person religion doesn't reveal how long the asshole line is. What good is it?
is a transcendent realm?
Perhaps instead of completely reinventing the wheel from scratch you could take something like Epicureanism and add a dash of transcendentalism. After all, transcendence feels good, I imagine.
Yes, "the pursuit of happiness", the state referenced in the D of I, is a background not foreground state. It is like "fitness"; when one is "fit" considerable effort can be expended without noticing it. When one has happiness, fitness, learning, and so forth these states disappear into the background of smooth functioning.
Background states are durable states, resisting easy destruction by one instance of foreground anxiety, for instance, or one episode of grief. When anxiety, depression, fear, loneliness, Trump, and so forth become background, happiness is replaced by rough dysfunction.
The wise understand that good and bad are co-arising. To pursue hedonistic pleasure is to be a hamster on a wheel. You've been posting the same idea here for months, always saying the same thing: hamster on wheel.
"So, the next time you feel a positive emotion such as a feeling of excitement to go to the carnival, sexual arousal, or a feeling of profound beauty and joy, do not ignore and dismiss that emotion as being nothing more than just a feeling. It is something far more than that. It is everything to your human existence. It is the perception of beauty and joy in your life which makes your whole entire reality something beautiful and joyful."
"I would describe positive emotions as being divine, holy, magnificent, and transcending states. They transcend you into the heavens, so to speak, and they make you and your life something awesome. But I would describe the negative emotions as being descending states. They lower you down into the realm of darkness and negativity since they can make you feel disgust about yourself and they can make you feel morbid and miserable."
-TranscendedRealms
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While others may disagree with you, in my humble opinion I believe you are closer to the truth then many would like to believe. Religion (as well the concept of morality) is itself a vice so linking hedonism with spirituality shouldn't be all that shocking. It only takes some common sense to realize that most people find solace in either a bar and alcohol or churches and the bible (although some use both) and they are both there for more or less the same reasons. Although I don't remember the exact passage or even the book it was in, I'm pretty sure Nietzsche once or twice linked the similarities between extremely religious people and alcoholics. Almost everyone has a vice of one sort or another, however this is more or less just an aspect of the human condition and not any particular fault of an individual so in that regard certain aspects of hedonism/vices, religion and/or systems of belief are one and the same.