I feel that my pleasure really is the only good thing in my life and is the only thing that makes me and my life good. My thoughts, other created good meanings in my mind, as well as everything else in my life including my own dreams without my pleasure are all nothing more than just different words, sounds, images, etc. In other words, they are all neutral (neither good or bad) things and it is only my pleasure that makes me and my life good while it is only my suffering that makes me and my life inferior, worthless, and bad. Again, it has nothing to do with me attributing a neutral value to these things. My thoughts and other created good meanings in my mind are all neutral in of themselves and it has nothing to do with me attributing a neutral value to them. This is because they are all neutral conscious experiences which means that there is no profound experience whatsoever from them without my pleasure and that my pleasure is the one and only profound good experience for me in life. Even if I were to perceive something as being good in my life without my pleasure, then that is still a neutral conscious experience and there is nothing profound and good about it. As a matter of fact, my mind would only be tricking me into perceiving that something is good in my life when the fact of the matter is that all of my thoughts and created meanings in life are nothing more than words, sounds, images, etc. in of themselves regardless of how I perceive them. These thoughts might be the words good and bad and might very well be good or bad meanings, but they are only good and bad in a neutral sense which means that they are not truly good or bad at all and that it is only our pleasure and suffering that are the true good and bad things in life. What I mean by “in a neutral sense” would mean that these thoughts are only good and bad in a fake sense.
IMO, a one sided reliance on ‘pleasure’ as a measurement of a meaningful life is not an optimal approach to life and living.
To facilitate effective survival of the individual, nature has endowed humans with various [a range] pair of opposites, i.e. fight or flight, pain or pleasure, sad or happy, love or hate, us or them, black or white, etc.
Each side of the dichotomy has its effectiveness when applied in its correct circumstance and when any one side is taken to the extreme it will end up being counter-productive, e.g. diminishing marginal returns/utility.
In this case what is applicable is the dichotomy of pleasure and pain where both variables are critically necessary to facilitate optimal living and survival.
‘Pleasure/happiness’ in its various manifestations are definitely pleasurable, expected and hoped for. However when taken to the extreme, it becomes destructive as a habit and addictions that lead to a cycle of other spiraling negative behaviors and evils.
Pains and sufferings are also critical variables to facilitate survival of the individual. Grief was once very necessary for our ancestors and perhaps is one reason humans did not go extinct. Whenever someone or a few in battles within a group died, there is a necessity to ensure the group get cohesive and stay united to defend against further threats.
Unfortunately the grief instinct is embedded deeply in the human psychic and is spontaneously triggered despite its non-effectiveness in our modern era. Since grief in inevitable, there is no point being defensive and complaining against it, rather we should just go through the phase with an intellectual understanding of it.
When one is sick, the body generate sadness or lethargy [unpleasurable]. I believe this is the natural way to force the person to rest so that the body can heal itself in time.
Thought pains and sufferings are not pleasant, we should not try to suppress them but understand and accept them where their necessity and criticalness are relevant.
There is a ‘pleasure-circuit’ within the brain/mind. If one emphasize too much in the pleasure circuit, there is a danger that this pleasure-circuit is mechanical linked to some sub-pain circuit, i.e. where one seek pleasure in pain, example a masochist, self-inflicting pain, psychosomatic & mental diseases, etc.
Thus the idea ‘pleasure really is the only good thing in my life and is the only thing that makes me and my life good’ is not optimal to living. The fact is the pain and suffering impulses are instinctual and can be triggered unconsciously and at times uncontrollably and there is no way one can fully control them.
What is optimal is the subtle linkage of the pleasure circuit to living in equanimity of accepting and balancing both pleasures and pains (Yin & Yang) in accordance their necessity in life.