To Find Pleasure, Look for Purpose

<p>It might seem like the Stoics didn’t have fun, didn’t experience pleasure. They did write, after all, quite a bit about the emptiness of chasing sex or money or fine wines. But just because they scorned excess luxury and comfort doesn’t mean their lives were empty and joyless.</p><p>Quite the contrary.</p><p>In his book <a href="https://geni.us/PYdGS5s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Expanding Circle</em></a>, the philosopher Peter Singer (who was on a great <a href="https://dailystoic.com/peter-singer-on-practicing-effective-altruism-daily/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">episode of the Daily Stoic podcast</a> recently if you haven’t listened) explains that what they were actually doing was trying to avoid the <em>paradox of hedonism.</em></p><p>✉️&nbsp; Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: <a href="http://dailystoic.com/dailyemail" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail</a></p><p>🏛 Check out the <a href="https://store.dailystoic.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Daily Stoic Store</a> for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.</p><p>📱 Follow us: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/dailystoic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/dailystoic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@daily_stoic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dailystoic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook</a></p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p>