BitterSweetLife

The Centrality of Joy



Here's the next development in my emerging BitterSweet ethos. If you missed "article 1," and wonder what I'm talking about, you may want to read this first. For the rest of you, here we go.

::2: Embrace pleasure. If this sounds like hedonism, it is. But it's hedonism in its purest and only justifiable form. A "BitterSweeter" sees joy not as a distraction to be avoided, nor as sentimentality to be sneered at, nor as an evolving emotional "commodity" to be handled with care. Rather, joy is a necessity to be embraced. And a person on this path values pleasure so highly that it must be undiluted, that is, true. He sees joy for what it is, and rejects all substitutes as "dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers" (C.S. Lewis).

A principled pursuit of real happiness and, therefore, a moderated "skepticism" about apparent fulfillment, is central to BitterSweetness. As Lewis says, "I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy." Joy* is what we are ultimately after, and genuine pleasures are within our reach—if we know their source. This is the Sweet.

* I've used "joy" and "pleasure" interchangeably in this post, but there is much to be gained from a more nuanced perspective, as suggested by the second Lewis quote. Hopefully I'll be able to write about this at a later date.