Introspection And Pleasure

Pursuing pleasure and pursuing alignment with reason are not antithetical goals, even if one misconception of rationality is that a rational person lives stoically, without any significant concern for pleasure.  On the contrary, rationalism is not stoicism.  The former is an epistemological and metaphysical system centered on the laws of logic, and the latter is a system of values emphasizing acceptance and detachment from emotional outbursts.  Since even perfect rationality does not conflict with deep emotionality, given that emotion is not falsely regarded as something that invalidates or supercedes reason itself, nothing about alignment with reason drives someone away from emotion--or natural pleasures that come with various emotions.

One ramification is that an emotional craving for pleasure, whether that pleasure is of a predominantly mental or physical nature, never needs to be feared as something that will usurp reason's hold on a person unless they specifically allow it to.  In fact, it is reason that enables any conscious being that can experience pleasure to realize what it is experiencing in the first place.  There is no knowledge apart from reason, even if some kinds of knowledge also require introspection or sensory perceptions (the latter mostly establishing nothing more than the perceptions themselves).  Analyzing pleasurable emotions, sensory delights, and one's subjective reaction to them in the light of reason can yield great personal benefits.

The baseline pleasure provided by a psychological or physical stimulus might be the same with or without a direct analysis of pleasure, but intentional self-awareness and rationality can bring a far deeper level of enjoyment.  Introspection in the light of reason has the ability to let one savor pleasure more intimately and amplify whatever personal sense of fulfillment a given experience might bring.  Anyone with a mind and functioning senses can experience pleasure.  However, only someone who reflects on pleasure as a philosophical subject and as a part of human life will be able to understand, feel, and communicate their comprehension of pleasure beyond a shallow level.  The latter type of person orients themselves towards reason without sacrificing pleasure unnecessarily.

There is a large spectrum of pleasures that rationalism and Christian ethics do not conflict with in any way.  Indeed, true rationalists are in a better position to appreciate pleasure in their own lives.  Intellectual pleasures like fulfillment from autonomous reasoning and security that comes from alignment with truth, social pleasures like sharing one's mind with close friends, and sensual pleasures like regular masturbation are not hindered by rationality (or condemned by Biblical morality at that).  If someone sincerely loves pleasure, they will have some desire to understand it; in order to understand it, they must look to reason and introspection.

Rationalistically understanding pleasure enables one to accurately comprehend more of reality, as personal experiences with pleasure are a part of reality even though they are subjective, but it also provides the benefit of deeper personal experiences with pleasure.  On both a philosophical and strictly experiential level, analyzing pleasure with pure reason deepens a person.  Those who love truth can savor the fact that there are important truths about pleasure that every person can reason out.  Those who love pleasure can find a heightened capacity to recognize and dwell on pleasure without leaping into hedonism.  Despite the effort that shifting from mostly passive experiences to rationalistic, introspective self-analysis might take in some cases, the latter can become familiar, easy, and appreciated even for those who have rejected it for decades.

Logic, people.  It is very helpful.