This is a continuation of the article: Purpose, way, meaning (of life).
There, I drew attention to general concepts (rules) of human behavior, and perhaps of all life: avoiding pain 👎 and striving for pleasure 👍. I call them "basic biological drivers" (I'm looking for a better name). Feeling pleasure can be immediate or in the so-called delayed gratification , when we allow the existence of temporary discomfort while expecting a reward in the future. Pleasure is also felt as a result of satisfying all instincts and needs, i.e. obtaining benefits.
Because I like maps and diagrams, I am looking for one that will explain in the simplest (reduced) way every potential human action, his basic motivations, goals and aspirations. And there you have it: the pain / pleasure rule works perfectly! The more I think about it and test it, the more I discover its validity.
This statement is true for man as a biological, physical, mortal being, separated by Ego. On a higher spiritual level there is no dualism, we are all One , and every experience, felt lower as suffering or joy, is equivalent:
| The Meaning of Existence is Development through Experience, the Final Goal does not exist, the most important thing is the Path, and the Universal Key is Free Will. |
As humans, we are largely machines, "androids". We receive information from the environment through our senses, pass it through perception filters and compare it with subconsciously programmed patterns. We react based on past experiences and recreate our established internal programs. And in the body there are physics, mechanics, biochemistry, physiology, electrical activity...
The subjective feeling of good / bad is the result of an automatic process of categorization and evaluation. Remember that events in the external world "happen" and are neither good nor bad in themselves. Only the process of evaluation, in relation to internal patterns, makes us feel them one way or another.
It is worth being aware of what internal processes guide our human behavior!
P.S. Note that I do not identify feeling pleasure with feeling happiness.
Article: The feeling of happiness. The real world and the world map
|
Example |
Avoiding pain, suffering, discomfort |
Pleasure, benefit, joy, comfort |
Deferred gratification |
|
Food |
Hunger |
Satiety, taste, survival another day |
|
|
S3x |
|
Yes! |
|
|
Egoism - altruism |
|
They both give pleasure (maybe not for the same person 😮) |
|
| Relationships |
Discomfort, loneliness |
Pleasure, mutual benefits |
|
|
Kids |
Avoiding loneliness |
Pleasure, achieving a biological goal |
A deferred benefit in old age? |
|
Sport |
Avoiding diseases |
Satisfaction with one's own body, health, increased sense of internal and external value, better quality of life |
Sweat, tears and soreness |
|
Hobby |
|
Yes! |
|
|
Drugs and addictions |
Forgetting about suffering, about the past, drowning out |
Searching for momentary pleasure, a distraction, a mask |
|
|
Music, art |
|
Yes! |
|
|
Learning, development, studies |
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Yes? |
You suffer for some years to potentially benefit in the future |
|
Paid work |
You don't want to sleep under a bridge |
Earn a living, gain material benefits, achieve success |
30 days until payment ;), retirement, whatever remains of it... |
|
Religion |
A system of rewards and punishments, fear and satisfaction, hell |
Taking advantage of an excuse to yourself, having a false sense of security, meaning, purpose, giving the leadership of your life to someone else (a "higher" virtual parent), participating in a social community, etc. |
Striving for an externally imposed ultimate goal: salvation, nirvana, heaven |
|
Spirituality |
The pain of existence, the lack of a sense of purpose and meaning in life |
Finding your own path, your own answers, your own purpose and meaning in life, better quality of life, focusing the leadership of your life in your own hands, control over actions and consequences, |
At the beginning there are a lot of doubts and unknowns, you may lose old friends but gain new ones |
|
Meditation |
Nervousness disappears |
Peace, clarity, clarity, asking the right questions, finding answers |
Your legs are numb 😋, you may discover initially unpleasant things in yourself |
Finally, I will draw your attention to the NVC (Nonviolent Communication) system/philosophy, which appeals to me very much.
Philosophical assumptions:
- all human behavior serves to satisfy his needs, conscious or unconscious,
- emotions are the voice of needs = feeling: pleasant - unpleasant, not good - bad,
- unmet needs cause conflicts: internal and interpersonal,
- there are many strategies to meet a given need,
I will expand on this topic sometime, because I intend to delve into it more deeply.
