# General > General Chat >  what is the ultimate pleasure?

## cacian

so what is man ultimate pleasure?

i would say touring/exploring the world and every nook and cranny of planet earth *not including space*.

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## Marcus1

Categorizing pleasures - into higher and lower - like what Kant and Mill did. Or as a strict utilitarian would do, deem the activity which leaves the greatest impact (intellectual and emotional) on the individual over the greatest period of time (sustainability). For me literature, cinema, music and the arts remain with me for years, and I still can recall the first time I discovered a particular song or watched a particular film, a moment in time to cherish.

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## Pompey Bum

Oddly enough it turns out to be bathing in volcanic springs. Only don't go to the Japanese ones, which are too much like locker rooms. Go to the ones on Taiwan. You have to wear a swimsuit (in Japan it's naked), but at least it's coed. If Kant were alive, it"s where he'd be.

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## Marcus1

I remember my trip to Hokkaido, Japan during the winter and I tried a couple of the hot springs. I guess being naked in public is a truly bizarre but great experience.

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## Delta40

Lol when push comes to shove, emptying your bowels after days of constipation!

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## Lykren

I don't know. I don't see a lot of pleasure, and none of what there is seems very good. Hearing songs like this is a pleasure I suppose:

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## Lokasenna

> Oddly enough it turns out to be bathing in volcanic springs. Only don't go to the Japanese ones, which are too much like locker rooms. Go to the ones on Taiwan. You have to wear a swimsuit (in Japan it's naked), but at least it's coed. If Kant were alive, it"s where he'd be.


Try an Icelandic one! There's nothing quite like swimming in a hotspring during a blizzard. Most hotsprings there are clothed - not that the Icelanders have an great taboo about public nudity though...

As for ultimate pleasure... I'm guessing the family-friendly nature of LitNet might preclude descriptions of some of the more... exotic... pastimes some people on here might have.

I don't know whether it's the ultimate pleasure, but curling up in bed with a good book, a glass of fine whisky to hand, and some light classical/jazz music on the radio is pretty damn close to heaven.

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## Pompey Bum

Hot springs in the snow sound nice. They're great at night, too. One of the Japanese springs I went to was next to the sea, which was lovely beneath its starry canopy. If only there had been girls!

Close runners-up for greatest pleasure include the cozy companionship of a beloved spouse as middle age starts to give way; and a book in bed with slightly cool sheets, with a steady rain outside. I was quite astonished to see volcanic springs shove their way to the front!  :Smile: 




> when push comes to shove


Not my cup of tea. Try dulcolax.  :Smile:

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## PeterL

I thik that I'll dp a blog on this instead of answering it here.

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## Gilliatt Gurgle

My response to the OP's other thread; "What Men Want", works just as well here...

_" To be pulled in my Airstream sledge across February snow through the Weminuche Wilderness by a team of seven stout, corn fed women. As the sun settles behind Rio Grande Pyramid, we set camp along Ute Creek. A fire is prepared for me using juniper and pinyon from the south. As I warm my mukluks, two from the team will heat up some drambuie in a cast iron pot suspended from a cooking tripod made of Aspen, two head down to the river and noodle for trout, two will pitch the tent and the seventh will do covers of John Denver and Merle Haggard on a balalaika. After we sip, sup and sing, all will repair to an open meadow to feast on desert of wild strawberries and count the stars in the Milky Way.

In the tent Ill watch Yul Brynner and the Magnificent Seven_ 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XDB7GMnbUQ

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## YesNo

Peaceful, easy breathing is my ultimate pleasure. Sometimes it doesn't feel as ultimate as others, but on those other times it makes everything else fall into place.

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## romeoindespair

I love randomly wandering thru the woods. Listening to the sound of birds and smelling the fresh vegetation. Dipping your toes in a crystal clear lake. 

As an atheist theres nothing more religious to me than nature

And Iv'e never actually felt it but probably cuddling in bed

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## MANICHAEAN

Being able to work past 70, good booze, cooking, writing, reaching the end of career ambition, old books, 5 star hotels in exotic locations, taking risks never dreamed of in middle age, cold crisp sheets and hot opposite numbers.

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## Helga

I don't think ultimate pleasure is just one thing. In my case it's a day like today here on the ice. It's ten in the morning and pitch dark, white snow all over the place and I am in my favourite cafe drinking a wonderful double espresso, that is the ultimate pleasure.

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## tonywalt

Friday, Beer, Cold Pints, Nice Pub, Friends, laughter, Classic Rock music playing in background

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## Sancho

Here's one:

That rush of aroma and warmth you get when stepping into a cozy house from the frigid outdoors. 

I'm not saying I have any personal experience in this area, but let's just say you were driving along in your 1981 Honda Civic with the intention of going to your grandmother's house. By and large the 1981 Honda Civic is a fine automobile, but this particular one you're driving has bald tires, the muffler dangling from a coat hanger, and a bad fuel pump, which would have more bearing on the story if the Honda in question had more than a dollar's worth of gas in the tank. So anyway, now you're walking along over a river and through some woods in your threadbare jeans, Chuck Taylors, and a perfectly inappropriate hooded sweatshirt. And it's getting really freaking cold. And windy. And dark. And that slice of pizza you ate 16 hours ago isn't holding up. So now your lips are blue, you're teeth are chattering, you can't feel your toes anymore, the snow's coming down heavier, and you still have miles to go before you eat. Miles to go before you...brrrrr it's cold. You think maybe you should stop and build a fire, but you left your lighter in the Honda, and anyway you were a lousy Boy Scout, so you resolve to run the rest of the way, but a few steps into the run and you're on your arse, Chuck Taylors not being too good on ice. So you gut it out, walking the rest of the way in the jerky, stiff-legged way that victims of hypothermia tend to walk. 

And there you are, stepping through the front door of your grandmother's cottage, the warmth of the place turning your cheeks rosy red, the aroma of the pot of beans simmering on the stove wafting over you, intermingling with the sweet scent of something good baking in the oven (probably jalapeño cornbread). And there are friends and family all around. And they are genuinely happy to see you, except maybe your sister Delores, who still holds a grudge for some strange reason about some damn thing.

It may not be the ultimate pleasure, but it's right on up there.

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## Sancho

Also a couple of muscle contractions in a darkened room is pretty good.

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## Clopin

I don't known about ultimate pleasure, but waking up from a dream in which your life took an unwelcome turn, or you experienced some humiliation, trauma or any other negativity and experiencing the realization that none of it happened and you're really just lying in bed, is very nice.

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## Lykren

> I don't known about ultimate pleasure, but waking up from a dream in which your life took an unwelcome turn, or you experienced some humiliation, trauma or any other negativity and experiencing the realization that none of it happened and you're really just lying in bed, is very nice.


Haha! I have the opposite experience. I wake up from nightmares and then realize my life is already down the drain.

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## Clopin

> Haha! I have the opposite experience. I wake up from nightmares and then realize my life is already down the drain.


Ha well I do often have the real opposite experience where the dream is relevant to my life in such a pleasant way that upon waking I'm hit with the realization that "oh, right, no... that didn't happen' which can be as bad as the reverse is good.

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## Pompey Bum

Yes, it's very nice when that happens, but I don't know if I'd call it a pleasure. I once had an extremely vivid dream in which my car's accelerator stuck on a narrow New England costal road. After what amounted to a roller coaster through hell, my poor car busted through a wooden barrier and sailed into a channel. As the car hit the water, the desperate thought flashed in my mind: "I'm dead if this is not a dream--and obviously it is not." Then I woke up. Nice. But not pleasant.

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## Carousel

Oh that’s easy. Tuning the key in the front door and hearing ‘Daddy’s home’ screams from my three daughters. Holding one under each arm and little Sarah Louise trying to climb up my leg. Nothing beats that.

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## Calidore

> I don't known about ultimate pleasure, but waking up from a dream in which your life took an unwelcome turn, or you experienced some humiliation, trauma or any other negativity and experiencing the realization that none of it happened and you're really just lying in bed, is very nice.


Very true. On the other hand, waking up and realizing you were dreaming about coming into a lot of free money, as happened to me the other day, is kind of a bummer.

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## Clopin

Again, maybe not ultimate, but waking up at night and absolutely dying of thirst, that first gulp of water is sublime; I feel like I can quaff an entire cup in my first mouthful.

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## Clopin

> Oh that’s easy. Tuning the key in the front door and hearing ‘Daddy’s home’ screams from my three daughters. Holding one under each arm and little Sarah Louise trying to climb up my leg. Nothing beats that.


Yes the real ultimate pleasure must have to do with parenting.

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## free

To be properly understood and to understand.

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## PeterL

> To be properly understood and to understand.


If that ever happened.

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## mal4mac

> Yes the real ultimate pleasure must have to do with parenting.


Seeing them leave home, and converting their bedroom into your personal den.

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## free

> If that ever happened.

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## PeterL

> 


o.k....

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## NikolaiI

I came across this a few weeks ago and thought it was very good. 

Eric Schiller in “What Difference Can a Good Theatrical Stage Actually Make?” (1784):

'[Art] should remain play, but also be poetic play. All art is dedicated to joy, and there is no higher and more serious task than of making people happy. The highest enjoyment, however, is the freedom of the inner life of feeling in the living play of all of its powers.'

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## desiresjab

The ultimate pleasure is the last one. Did not an Irishman say: _For everything that's lovely is but a brief, dreamy, kind delight_?

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## biblophile

a good book and a endless tea pot

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