Pleasure knows no increase only variety.
EPICURUS
I love cheap beer and cheap cigars. I do not drink alcohol or smoke tobacco. I just like how these cheap pleasures piss off the rich guys with their 12 year old scotch and $50 cigars. The rich desperately want to believe that their wealth buys them more in life. Having a lot of money should get you something more in life, but it doesn't. The blue collar guy drinking PBR and smoking a White Owl proves that truth.
People with a hedonistic streak want more out of life. You can't get more out of life. You can vary your pleasures, but you can never increase them. This doesn't keep them from trying. The pursuit for more comes down to chasing quantity or quality or a combination of the two things. I call the ones that excessively pursue these pleasures the "Hogs of Human Experience." The concept of enough does not exist in their minds.
Pleasure comes down to the elimination of pain. When you are hungry, food tastes better than when you are not hungry. This is why they say that hunger is the best sauce. Likewise, entertainment comes down to the alleviation of boredom. Sleep is the remedy for exhaustion. Epicurus taught that we should seek a state where all pain and disturbance was eliminated from life in a state known as "ataraxia." I don't think it is possible to eliminate all pain and disturbance from this life. I think it is possible to have moments of relief from pain and disturbance. For me, all pleasure comes down to finding temporary relief from momentary pain. You can't count on always getting that relief, but you can always count on the pain. I think Epicurus discovered this when he was dying from that kidney stone.
When people discover the relief from their pain and suffering, they naturally want to maximize it which is how you get the desire for more. These people do not realize or acknowledge that there is a finite limit to the pleasures of life. Ultimately, these people are godless and want relief for their souls which can never be found in worldly pleasures.
I believe God gives relief to the poor but denies it to the rich. I believe that being poor puts you in a better position to experience this relief as complex pleasures bring more pain than they are worth. I appreciate the engineering and craftsmanship of a fine Rolex watch, but I am sticking with my cheap Casio beater watch that tells better time and makes me unafraid to lose it or damage it.
I remember my old man going to watch NASCAR races with his friends from work. Then, he stopped doing that around the time he got cable TV and ESPN. He candidly admitted that it was more pleasurable and less hassle to watch the race on the tube than to physically be there with the heat, the noise, the drunks, and trying to listen to the coverage on his radio headphones. Why go to an event that you can watch more easily on TV for a fraction of the price while enjoying the convenience of your own kitchen and bathroom? This comes down to bragging rights. For some reason, we believe or want to believe that people get more from the actual live event than following it on the television or the radio. This is also why people desperately take selfies to post on Facebook and Instagram of them doing fabulous things in life. But are they fabulous? We know better.
I remember my old man drinking Black Label beer, smoking Marlboros, and eating popcorn and peanut brittle while watching stock car races, football games, and Gunsmoke from the comfort of his ratty recliner with the cigarette burns in the seat. I think he lived like a king. He had a lot of pain and suffering in his life, but he wasn't too poor or busy to enjoy a few hours in that chair. He had enough.
Today, I witness the Hogs of Human Experience blow money they don't have chasing pleasures and vanities they can't afford. I am not into going on cruises to the Bahamas or Alaska or pretending to be a kid again at Disneyworld. I have done things like this, and they are overrated. I know that I am missing out on nothing that this life offers. This is because this life has nothing to offer.
My life comes down to God, enduring my suffering as a penance, and finding momentary relief from it all in the simplest of pleasures. The biggest pain in my life are those Hogs of Human Experience. I must be candid and say that I don't like these people or care to hang out with them in their pursuit of more. They have a real knack for ruining a good thing.
If the guys sipping cheap beer and smoking cheap cigars are missing out on anything, they don't know it. The Hogs of Human Experience want them to know it which is why they post endlessly on social media. These fools want to deceive others and themselves with their social media posts and "influencing." The real key to enjoying life is the ability to not care what others think about you. I know my old man didn't care. The reality of simple pleasures beats the fantasies of people who always want more and find no satisfaction.
