The only thing I learned from that exercise was that the majority of us are short-sighted and self-centered hedonists.
Yes, darkly funny indeed. But now I'm going to try again: not because anyone particularly cares what I say, but because if I don't write, I won't think. Since I graduated from university my brain has been on the decline; I'm on the fast-track to imbecility. The following quote from John Stuart Mill in "Utilitarianism" is fairly self-explanatory:
"Capacity for the nobler feelings is in most natures a very tender plant, easily killed, not only by hostile influences, but by mere want of sustenance; and in the majority of young persons it speedily dies away if the occupations to which their position in life has devoted them, and the society into which it has thrown them, are not favourable to keeping that higher capacity in exercise. Men lose their high aspirations as they lose their intellectual tastes, because they have not time or opportunity for indulging them; and they addict themselves to inferior pleasures, not because they deliberately prefer them, but because they are either the only ones to which they have access, or the only ones which they are any longer capable of enjoying.(1)"
Much less eloquently then: If you're not challenging both your mind and spirit in your daily life, you will eventually lose the capacity to appreciate the more cerebral pleasures: art, theatre, music, other cultural pursuits and travel, language, and literature. I would venture that one's spiritual curiosity would also be diminished.
What do we then replace these "higher" pleasures with? Television, blockbuster films, booze... you get the idea. Of course there is still a place for these "inferior" pleasures; in my case though, when I look back over the last 4 years and think to myself: "Wow, I watch a lot more television and waste more time surfing the 'net, yet haven't attended a symphony concert in almost 2 years," I feel a certain sadness I haven't realized before. Il y a quelque chose qui manque.
It's one of those feelings you would like to shake off and ignore, but can't... It's the burden of realizing you're becoming somebody you never intended to be.
