The Crusade Against Pleasure

The ancient Athenian philosopher Epicurus (341 - 270 BCE) has taught us the wisdom which nowadays most people seem not to recognize. Many people I talk to (even the intelligent ones) have a very wrong perception of pleasure and often treat Epicurus as a frivolous philosopher who advocated a crazy morality of "doing whatever seems pleasurable at the time". That is not what the man was about at all. An important quote of his that I want to mention is the following: "No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves." . What this means is that certain pleasures must be refrained from because they do not produce pleasure in the long run - rather, they produce pain and "annoyance". But the pleasure itself is not wrong. I don't think anyone would actually agree that what feels good to us is automatically defined as evil. Rather, it should be defined as good. Also important in the Epicurean philosophy is teaching that pleasure is not just about immediate gratification. It is also about living a just life (famously Epicurus describes the greatest pleasure in life to be friendship). You cannot enjoy immediate pleasures in excess because that will cause dire consequences in the future. Therefore it is important to find a balance which produces the most 'net pleasure', so to speak.
Meanwhile the morality of today seems to simply say "refrain from all pleasure". There are laws enacted to prevent people from doing that which is pleasurable to them. Moreover, the general public seems to agree that these laws are necessary and that pleasure should be restrained! This can be seen in all sorts of initiatives such as: high drinking and smoking ages (drinking and smoking are pleasurable); bans on all kinds of sexual practices (sex is pleasurable); bans on many substances such as (so-called) drugs (drugs induce pleasure); restrictions and bans on gambling (gambling is pleasurable); bans on any activities people would voluntarily take part in, but are not allowed to do so (bare-knuckle boxing and sword duels are illegal for some reason...). This list could continue on forever. Why are these activities illegal? Because supposedly they cause harm to society. This, in turn, is because people can't judge for themselves what is bad and excessive in terms of pleasure. But will someone, in God's name, tell me how people can ever learn what is excessive and what is not if they are not allowed to try it in the first place?! This kind of restrictive policy not only breaks human rights, but also makes no logical sense whatsoever! It is simple tyranny!

Edmund Burke understood this when he said: "Pater ipse colendi haud facilem esse viam voluit. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper." Our own instincts to grab instant pleasure are what we have to wrestle against. But without them - how would we know our own strength and be able to display it? The government and the majority who curtail our freedoms - those who proclaim to be helpers - they are our enemies.