Pleasure vs Happiness

Nothing wrong with either but only one lasts

My 2 cents on Anthony Bourdain. Why did such a rich and famous man kill himself?

Hedonism is short term fun. Many philosophers over the years from Aristotle to Krishnamurti have separated "pleasure" from "happiness". Happiness is real sense of fulfillment. Purpose and self actualization satiate this need. People focus on the goal. Ah got the girl, ah got the car, ah got the whatever. But fulfillment is from maximizing your potentials. You turn potential into actual. That can be physically mentally or socially.

For example smash brothers wouldn't be fun if you had a cheat code and won every stage in one shot. Or it wouldn't be fun very long. Value is from struggle not from winning. This is why you feel good from training. A lot of rich people who either started that way or rapidly got that way, start to get board and not start to enjoy their things. This is because they can just buy stuff. The girl the car the whatever is no thrill.

Usually those things require you to max out potentials. You need to develop many skills to get a girl or to get the money for a super car. That’s why first one is so amazing. If it becomes easy sure you have status but even making people envy you is easy too, so it will also fade in value. That is why they turn to making more and more money. They need the challenge.

This is why I tell people if you want lasting happiness fine new things to master get into endless struggle like martial arts or political justice. They will never be easy. But ultimately the greatest challenge for a man with the most rewards and requiring the most wide range of skills and concrete results is being a good father. Nothing gives sense of achievement and allows unconditional love than teaching a son all that you know.

This is why it is head-slapping to me that all these first world people are not reproducing. They're selfish and their selfishness makes them miserable. Most people will never be millionaires. Just about anyone can have a kid and they don't. Imagine being on rung one of the ladder in your 30s or 40s still trying to hit up duh club or bar scene with a woo hoo teenage mentality, for DECADES. Such a simple lesson.

Appreciation is known only by contrast. If you have it all then create surrogate activities that re-introduce struggle. This is Tao. Much value is self actualization that is Zen Buddhism. "People don't enjoy velocity only acceleration" that's from me. Contrast and struggle are necessary. Bourdain didn't get it. He went to drugs and whores. He went for pleasure and became so empty (worse than sad) that he killed himself.