Some time ago, I wrote about the Utilitarian view of life and value. Today, I want to explore a different orientation—the Hedonistic view of money and pleasure, known in Buddhism and many Eastern philosophies as Kāmasukallikānuyoga, the devotion to sense pleasure.

This view does not merely shape how we consume money; it shapes how we define a successful life.

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The Death of the Existentialist (Jean-Paul Sartre)

Jean-Paul Sartre raised a famous existential question:

Who determines the value of your life?
Is it you—or those who gather around you?

At first glance, the answer seems simple: you decide your own value.
But the question becomes more complex when turned around.

What if value is measured by how others remember you?
Your legacy, reputation, and impact often live not in your own mind, but in the minds of others.

So which view is correct?

• The value you assign to yourself?
• Or the value others assign to you?

And ultimately—who decides what a life is worth?

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The Existentialist Position

Think about a knife.

Normally, we design a knife based on what we want to cut. Purpose comes first; the object follows.

Existentialists reverse this logic.

They argue that life exists first, without inherent purpose. Meaning is created afterward. Life is a blank page, a blank map.

To navigate this map, many existentialists implicitly use hedonism as their compass.

They choose direction based on maximum pleasure:

• enjoyment with family and friends,
• entertainment,
• success,
• comfort,
• experiences that feel good.

In this view, pleasure becomes the guide, and life is drawn in the direction of satisfaction. The map of one’s life is shaped by where pleasure seems greatest.

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Levels of Pleasure

Pleasure is not a single thing. It exists in layers.

1. Sensory Pleasure (Indriya Santarpanaya)
   Pleasure derived from satisfying the senses—sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
2. Comfort (Sanaseema)
   Ease and relaxation—like sipping coffee while rain falls on your patio.
3. Satisfaction / Fulfillment
   Completing a goal—passing an exam, achieving a long-sought milestone.
4. Blissful Pleasure
   A deeper joy born from understanding—radiating happiness beyond the self.
5. Ecstasy (Dhyanic Absorptions)
   Refined mental pleasure, lighter than worldly experience, accessed through deep concentration.
6. Liberation
   The highest level—beyond pleasure, beyond pain, beyond existence itself.

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Jeremy Bentham and Quantified Pleasure

Jeremy Bentham famously said:

“The quantity of pleasure being equal, push-pin is as good as poetry.”

If pleasure can be measured purely by quantity, then all pleasures are equal.

Following this logic, one second of dhyānic pleasure should be no different from any other pleasure of equal duration.

However, Eastern traditions—especially Buddhism—disagree. They teach that one second of dhyānic pleasure surpasses countless moments of sensory pleasure.

This raises a difficult question.

A Thought Experiment

Which would you choose?

• Option 1:
  One second of dhyānic pleasure, followed by 100 years of a plain, simple life.
• Option 2:
  100 years of maximum hedonistic pleasure, followed by one second of dhyānic pleasure.

Many people would instinctively choose Option 2.

Why?

Because the mind is trained to value quantity, stimulation, and continuity of pleasure—not depth.

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Charvaka’s Question

The ancient Charvaka school posed a blunt challenge:

“If there is no ātma, no samsaric existence, then what is there beyond pleasure and pain?”

If there is nothing after death, no rebirth, no liberation—then pleasure becomes the only meaningful currency of life.

This is the logical foundation of radical hedonism.

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Epicurus: Rational Hedonism

Epicurus is often misunderstood.

He did not advocate endless indulgence. His hedonism was rational—seeking pleasure through simplicity, restraint, and freedom from fear.

For Epicurus, the highest pleasure was not excess, but tranquility.

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Utilitarian Ethics

Utilitarianism builds on a similar premise:

Human beings are governed by pleasure and pain.

If ethical action is that which maximizes pleasure and minimizes suffering, then morality becomes a calculation.

The “best” action is the one that produces the greatest total pleasure.

But this raises an uncomfortable question:

Is all pleasure equal?

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Problems in Hedonism

1. Benchmarking Pleasure
   Once a level of pleasure becomes normal, it loses its appeal. The mind constantly seeks the next level, leading to restlessness and dissatisfaction.
2. Addiction to Sensory Pleasure
   Overindulgence dulls sensitivity to deeper pleasures. Life becomes flat, even when filled with stimulation.
3. Dissonance Between Pleasure and Satisfaction
   Pleasure does not always bring fulfillment. One can have endless pleasure and still feel empty.

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The Buddhist Perspective

Buddhism does not reject pleasure.

None of the six levels of pleasure are condemned in themselves.

What Buddhism warns against is attachment.

From the Bālisika Sutta (SN 35):

“There are ideas cognizable via the intellect—agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing.
If a monk does not relish them, welcome them, or remain fastened to them,
he has not swallowed Māra’s hook, who has snapped the hook, who has broken the hook, who has not fallen into misfortune & disaster.
The Evil One cannot do with him as he will.”

Pleasure is not the problem.

Clinging is.

When pleasure is experienced without relishing, welcoming, or fastening to it, it does not bind. It does not enslave. It does not lead to suffering.

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Closing Reflection

Hedonism answers the question “How do I live?”
Buddhism asks “How do I relate to experience?”

The danger is not pleasure itself—but mistaking it for freedom.