Sunday 8 July 2012

The Irrepressible Law of Hedonism



There is a secret, seemingly hidden from us, about a specific law of the Universe. If we, as in our ego, make ourselves useful to the Universe, in whatever way, the Universe will take care of us. All my life I have been doing almost exclusively that which has given me the greatest pleasure (I kept my Self happy). And now, I am comfortably divorced from the vicissitudes of everyday life, yet again doing what pleases me most. Writing.
You might say that I am in this world but not really of this world. I am a passer-bye.
We can all do that. Our prerogatives may change from time to time, but the essence is that we must do what gives us the greatest pleasure. If what we are doing is wrong, e.g. at the expense of another, the universe will soon cast us away. If not, if what we are doing is right, we’ll abide in peace and pleasure and we’ll taste the ambrosia of the gods, which the Universe will exude at us in her spellbinding generosity.
Of course, some of us might find my particular modus vivendi uninteresting, perhaps outright dull. Isaac Asimov said that he was happiest when holed up in his attic while his wife and children went on holidays to the seaside. Stephen Hawking has written: “Apart from being unlucky enough to get ALS, or motor neuron disease, I have been fortunate in almost every other respect”.
Fortunate in almost every other respect.
Well, so have I. And I don’t even have ALS. Note, however, that Stephen Hawking is, to my knowledge, doing exactly what gives him the greatest pleasure, regardless of apparent circumstances.
It seem that he knows the secret of the Universal Law of Hedonism.

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