PAIN AND PLEASURE

Lady B · Senior Member

PAIN AND PLEASURE

abre les ojos · Guru

The answer to your question is NO NO NO.

I'll explain. Every person is a complex mixture of all their experience, genetic inheritance, parental upbringing etc. So, consequently people's reactions to either pain or pleasure; be it emotional or physical would vary enourmously from person to person.

Prison is full of people who's emotional pain probably caused them to react avdersly. Asylums are also filled with such people. So are law firms and political cabinets.

If one takes life as a kind of slot machine where if you put in virtue and wait for happiness to be paid out then you would be awfully disappointed. That is not how the world works whatever religion or politicians would like you to believe.

I pride myself as one who has had a life's fair share of hardship and pain. Does that make me more empathetic? No. It has made me more practical. More realistic about humanity. More understanding about the workings of the world. Some call it cynicism. But I don't decieve myself that there is a better world possible where we can all be happy. The truth is, we are alive for a very short time and that consequently means that self-gratification is the height of life (whether we accept that fact or not).

If you do then you would live a fuller, even happier life. If you are expecting your virtues to be rewarded then you would wait till your death, unhappy.

amdala · Senior Member

adam was told to sweat it out for him to have food. hardwork is all pain and toil... pleasures of life cant just be served to you in a silver platter, you have to work hard (pain it out) then pleasure will humbly follow.

i really believe to live pleasurely its the amount of pain you contribute... 'to eat like a king, work like a slave...'

abre les ojos · Guru

Adam was told by who? Where? Well this has nothing (or at least I hope) to do with religious superstition. Every living thing needs nourishment to survive. It produces energy and by-products thereof. Energy is the essence of life to keep the flow interrupted things have to keep the supply open oand constant. Hence consequently, work!!

Unfortunately, It doesn't always apply humans as we have sociologically created systems that allow us to exploit others to do the exertion for us. So rich folk can hire poorer people to do the work they don't want to do etc etc..

amdala · Senior Member

abre... when adam had sinned, the punishment he got was to sweat it out for food! the idea of how animals have to produce energy can not apply here. we are not to discuss of how cells produce energy or how glycogen is synthesised, no. all we are saying is you have to go through pain to get pleasure... in other words work hard to earn 'pleasure'...

if the rich gave a poor man some work then thats good for the poor man for through that hard work he has to do at the richmans' he is gonna get pleasure - food, beer, cigar etc. without him having to work then where would he get a cigar? if somebody cant make it in Malawi, they go abroad to work hard and get the pleasure for their sweat at some point in time. those pple should they choose to take it 'lazy' and stay put, would they get the good life? no. its the pain of hard work that earns them the pleasure - good life. hence to eat like a king, slave it out...

abre les ojos · Guru

You seem to have a short-sighted grasp on the workings of society and economics, let alone physics.

For one, the whole Adam thing is superstition. Jewish myth, that somehow made itself in popular culture/religion. The chinese, or indians or Africans (before white folks came around and ruined our beliefs) don't believe in that stuff but the same rules of labour apply to them. To us all. It is universal and applies to all living things. It is simply energy production consumption that man has upgraded to sociological constructs and economics... I'll get to the point...

What about slaves. what is or was their rewards. Nothing. The rewards were reaped by their owners. Same applies to those poor folks that make your trainers. The workings of capitalism have helped complicate the simple theory of work and reward.

Pain and pleasure in the Freudian sense means that living things move from pain towards pleasure and the gratification of it thereof.

amdala · Senior Member

neither do you understand simple ethics of life like plan to day for a better tomorrow. work hard today to reap pleasure the next day. slaves, do you know that a faithful slave got a reward? dont you agree that it pays to work hard? to president you have to campaign 'hard'... pain. hey man whats your point?

abre les ojos · Guru

That has nothing to do with ethics. Faithful slaves got a reward? Did you do history?

Well, anyway in society work is not directly proportional to reward. Some people's hard work pays harder than others. Physical labour doesn't pay the same everywhere and all the time. And all that stuff about hard work paying off rewards is not a general rule anywhere in the world. Anyone who's inherited money would tell you that...

amdala · Senior Member

see... you are now telling me of someone who has inherited money! how many pple inherit riches? if so then why should we have this huge migration? people want to work as to achieve comfort later on... take it or leave but its 'no pain no gain'.

abre les ojos · Guru

You having a laugh right? Sorry, maybe we're talking about two different things... Millions of people inherit riches. No everyone has to work hard. Look buddy... I give up...