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July 9, 2005

CR Is For Hedonists

[WARNING: Soft-skinned folks in the non-CR'd camp might find the content of this entry shocking or offensive. If you are under 18, a Puritan, squemish, or irrationally afraid of vegetables, please stop reading right here.]

A few days ago, a commenter posted to Brother Aaron's blog. I will reproduce it here. The potentially offensive language is the commenter's, not mine.

From my point of view, you might as well devote your life to serving god. The fundamental motivation behind your choices seems the same to me.

Hedonsim is where it's at.

Why do we need "separation from the rest of the animal kingdom"?

Thinking and F*ck*ng (etc) are not mutually exclusive!!! Finding balance is key. Is pondering the big picture really more *fun* for you? If so, maybe you should buy less books about philosophy and the universe, and more about how to have better sex.

If you turn to God as a way of life to deal with the death of your cat, is it really any different than turning to CRON as a way of life to deal with your high blood pressure? Do either of those choices really make your life any better? Or are you just trying to justify sacrifices required due to circumstance to yourself by concocting some higher purpose?

As a Hedonist, I *enjoy* humping and cheeseburgers and Fear Factor. I also enjoy riding my mountain bike or skating to excercise. And, on very rare occasions, I enjoy pondering Life, The Universe, and Everything. Then I go hump some more. Cuz it's what I *want*. Hedonism does *not* provide the answers I seek about Life and the universe, but you don't have those answers either, else you wouldn't have to ponder any more and you could go back to humping.

You can go on denying yourself. Though, I think your daily sacrifice is even worse than wasting every Sunday in church. Maybe on your death bed, for one nanosecond you will be able to admit the regret to yourself, and realize all the perfectly good humping time you missed out on. And I think there is regret, I think it's why you wrote this entry.

Well well well. I think it was in response to Aaron's original comment that:

Another motivation to do caloric restriction is that I am generally attracted to the ideal of overcoming primal urges. After all, that is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We have the same primal urges that all animals do; those powerful drives to eat, fuck, and sleep in ever more luxurious dens. Only humans can override these urges with higher-level urges generated by reasoning about the big picture. Every moment we spend eating and sleeping and humping and carrying on shallow lives shopping and watching Fear Factor, is a moment spent being an animal. Every moment spent meditating on the big picture, reasoning, and overriding primal urges, is a moment spent being human.

Now, I'm not saying we should all run off to Tibet and become monks (as much as I admire them -- those Tibetan monks are really in to being human), but it is just such a damned shame if we all waste our short lives running around sniffing each other's asses and drinking out of the toilet. Yes, my lovely readers, do yourselves a favor and please do not forget the big picture.

I'm glad that Aaron doesn't think we should run off to Tibet and become monks. I have it on good authority that if you do that, you have to drink yak butter tea, and that yak butter tea is really gross. (No offense to the yak lobby who will probably attack me for being anti-yak. I love yaks! Some of my best friends are yaks!) But I'd have to disagree with him in terms of motivation for doing CR. For me, a desire to master the primal urges plays no part in my motivation for CR'ing. Quite the opposite, in fact. It is because I intend to satisfy all my primal urges as efficiently as possible, as often as possible, and for as long as possible, that I do CR.

Does that seem contradictory to you? Well, let's unpack the commenter's comments a bit.

First, the part about sex. Now how does eating fewer calories mean less sex? I know the whole thing about CR = decreased libido, but Aaron wasn't talking about that at all! In fact, that aspect of CR is so over-emphasized that I think it's almost a myth. While CR'd men may experience a change in their feelings towards whatever sex they are attracted to, it doesn't usually equal a lack of interest in love and sex. I know this from extensive discussion with the brothers, who are unusually forthcoming about such topics, which just goes to prove the CR people will tell you anything. One of them, and I can't say who but it wasn't MR, told me that the whole CR = low libido was just a scam to convince women (this brother happens to be straight) that CR'd men are "safe," so that they'll have their guard down and be more easily seduced. I don't know if this is true or not, and no one else has broken the silence and admitted to the conspiracy, I'm just saying that's what I heard.

And as to function, well, HELLO!!! CR slows biological aging, and I'm sure some of my readers are aware of what happens to a great many non-CR'd men as they age. Desire may not decrease, but ability sure does. With CR'd men, not so! I'm thinking that at the next CR conference we should sell bumper stickers that say, "CR Guys Can Do It Forever." That should put an end to the snickering from the non-CR'd about one oft-cited side-effect.

How about this part:

If you turn to God as a way of life to deal with the death of your cat, is it really any different than turning to CRON as a way of life to deal with your high blood pressure? Do either of those choices really make your life any better?

Well, far be it for me to tell anyone how to deal with the death of a pet because I personally plan to take bereavement leave, cry for days, and wear black for a year if one of my cats ever dies. But as to turning to CRON to deal with high blood pressure or any other health issues that it may address, UH, YEAH. Of course it makes your life better! Who wants to be sick and feel bad, when you can be healthy and feel good? I hate to the be one to break it to you, but being unhealthy feels bad! And the medications that are prescribed to deal with illness frequently have side-effects that also feel bad! CRON has almost all positive side-effects. High blood pressure medication does not.

Now let's take the big one:

As a Hedonist, I *enjoy* humping and cheeseburgers and Fear Factor. I also enjoy riding my mountain bike or skating to excercise. And, on very rare occasions, I enjoy pondering Life, The Universe, and Everything. Then I go hump some more.

Now to some of you this might sound immature and tacky, but I'd have to say, my own philosophy is not so far off. I enjoy the pleasures of this life, and I seek to maximize them. I do not watch television or bike, not because I think they are somehow immoral activities or beneath me, but because I do not enjoy them. And because last time I tried to ride a bike I fell and sprained my ankle. While I prefer not to put it quite so crudely, I enjoy the joys of the flesh as much as the next girl, and if I had to guess, I'd say a whole lot more so. I try not to do things I don't enjoy: I love my work, I love petting my cats and taking long walks into town and even doing push-ups, and I love the food I eat on CR and the way my body feels when it's young and healthy and beautiful.

While there was a time when I enjoyed higher calorie, less nutritious food in large amounts, the pleasure that kind of eating gave me was dramatically less than the pleasure that my CR food gives me. My food is just better now! It seems that one side-effect of CR, once one begins to experience true hunger, is that food tastes even better. Eating, for us CR'd folk, is a sensual experience that is hard for the non-CR'd to even imagine. Years of gak-eating and the absence of real hunger masks the taste of food. CR'd people love food. Watch a CR'd person eat and you'll get some idea of what I mean.

Then there's the whole question of how a young and healthy person experiences life, vs. how an unhealthy person does the very same thing. One of the advantages to starting CR after one has had a period of declining health is that you almost get a second youth. They always say that youth is wasted on the young, but those of us who have felt bad and seen our weight climb and felt exhausted after going up the stairs can truly appreciate our new, younger, healthy bodies. Life is just more fun when you feel good in your own skin. You can't get out of it (well, some people can, but even they usually confine their out of body experiences to a few times a week, not, say, while standing in line at the bank) so you'd better feel good in it if you're planning to enjoy all the other things life has to offer.

Are the people in the ICU having fun? I don't think so. Is heart-bypass surgery enjoyable? How about not being able to have sex because of clogged arteries elsewhere? How about not being about to sit comfortably in an airplane due to excess weight? How about suffering the terrible discrimination against overweight people? Is that fun? Take my word for it: it is more fun to be thin and healthy.

Let's take the last part of the comment:

You can go on denying yourself. Though, I think your daily sacrifice is even worse than wasting every Sunday in church. Maybe on your death bed, for one nanosecond you will be able to admit the regret to yourself, and realize all the perfectly good humping time you missed out on. And I think there is regret, I think it's why you wrote this entry.

Denying yourself? Daily sacrifice? Huh?

Let's see... every day I deny myself the ability to feel ugly, exhausted, and gross. Several times a year, I deny myself the experience of being miserable at home sick with a cold. I deny myself indigestion, wrinkles (I use sunscreen too and soon plan to wear a funny hat), and lectures from my doctor about how I need to lose weight.

I also have to put up with things like getting carded to buy a bottle of wine cause I just don't look thirty. Now have to put up with getting whistled at on the street by male bystanders... that didn't happen quite so often when I weighed 137! (And guess what? I acutally LIKE getting whistled at! And yes, I am a femininst! If I weren't afraid of being taken too seriously, I'd whistle at attractive men on the street. Well, and if I knew how to whistle, which I don't. Maybe I could carry a whistle? But then people would think I was in some sort of danger and alert the police. Maybe a kazoo? But then people would think I had just escaped from a four year-old's birthday party. Oh well, I'll confine my appreciation of random attractive males to commenting, "I like your tie. Did your wife pick it out for you?") And I don't have to buy new clothes because I can wear the same clothes I wore in high school! Just this morning I was cleaning out a closet and came across a pair of underwear I wore at age sixteen. Still fits. And because I take good care of my underwear by handwashing and line drying it, it's still in excellent condition fifteen years later! Another example of how a little self-discipline goes a long way!

Then again, sometimes I do have to go to more trouble. I mean, I enjoy my food so much that I really like to sit down and take my time eating. And the fashions I wore in high school aren't really appropriate to a woman of thirty with a responsible job, so I have had to do some clothes shopping... in those stores where they sell all the cute stuff. I feel so good these days that I want to do things like take long walks and that takes some time. And I enjoy my love life so much that I spend quite a bit of time pondering various activities my partner and I can enjoy when we are no longer separated by an absurd distance. Like going to Chinatown to find exotic Chinese vegetables. And making sugar free jello in little jars. And engineering a higher protein version of the megamuffin. And... well, the possibilities are endless!

I enjoyed my food a lot less when food was just something I grabbed because it was there. I enjoyed my body a lot less when there was a lot more of it. I enjoyed my life a lot less before I discovered CR.

And as to the last part of the commenter's comment:

Doesn't he get that the whole point of CR is to have *more* time for that??? Cause you can't very well (insert your preferred term) when you're dead and buried.

Posted by april at July 9, 2005 8:06 AM

Comments

Posted by: christina at July 9, 2005 11:44 AM

Posted by: Mary at July 9, 2005 5:20 PM

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