Basic HTML Version
Bahamiao resorts were not suf–
ficient to help them forget their
troubles.
All
too often, the quest for plea–
sure and thrills becomes a maddeo–
ing, desperate, futile search. The pot
of gold which is supposed to be over
the next borizon at the end of the
rainbow sirnply isn' t there. Pleasure
for pleasure's sake doesn't satisfy or
fill
the void in people's lives.
What is the problem?
A glance at the historical record
of oations which preceded our mod–
ero societies down the "pleasure
route" is instructive.
The Philosophy of Hedonism
About 300 B.C., there lived
in
Greece a philosopher who taught
that the supreme purpose of life was
to get all the pleasure possible out of
it. His name was Epicurus. His fol–
lowers are Epicureans.
Epicurus said, "We declare plea–
sure to be the beginning and end of
PLEASURE SEEKERS
in the worm
Bohomion sun relox under o polm
tree on Lucoyo beoch ot Freeport
on Grand Bahama lslond (upper
left ). Porachutist descends to
earth, porticipating in o sport
thot is growing in populority
(lower left). Athletic youth water
skiing ot lake Piru in southern
California (upper right). Boha–
mian Goombay entertoiner rot–
t les goatskin drums in a Nassau
night club (lower right).
Don
Lorlon - Ploin Trvth
the blessed life. " He did oot believe
in a life after death. Epicurus wrote
to a friend: "But I summon you to
continuous pleasures and not to
vain and empty virtues which have
but disturbing hopes of results."
This ancient philosophy found
sorne of its greatest adherents in
Rome.
Rome possessed an unequaled
empire. Food, goods, and services
fiowed into Rome, the focal point of
the ancient world. Rome basked in
affiuence and wallowed in unsur–
passed luxury and wealth.
The Romans soon lost sight of
their national objectives. Fun and
games became more irnportant than
survival.
Fattened on the produce of the
far-reaching empire, the Romans
gorged themselves on exotic dain–
ties, indulged thei r sensuous appe–
tites, and debauched themselves
with wild sexual orgies. The main
attraction for the Roman masses
was the circus. The Circus Maximus
in Rome could hold 400 ,000
spellbound spectators.
We ought toread again what his–
torian Edward Gibbon wrote in
The
Decline and Fall of the Roman Em–
pire:
"The most lively and splendid
amusement of the idle multitude de–
pended on the frequent exhibition
of public games and spectacles. The
piety of Christian princes had sup–
pressed the inhuman combats of
gladiators; but the Roman people
still coosidered the Circus as their
borne, their temple, aod the seat of
the republic. The impatient crowd
rushed at the dawn of the day to se–
cure their places, and there were
many who passed a sleepless and
anxious oight
in
the adjacent por–
ticos" (vol. 11, p. 148).
How reminiscent this descriptioo
is of the thousands who attend
American football games. This year,
sports commentators caugh t the
parallel when an estimated
75,000,000 people watched the "Su–
per Bowl" football game on televi–
sioo, beld, interestingly enough, in
13