ERIC KIM

Physiological Happiness

When we want ‘happiness’ — what is it exactly that we want?

My theory:

The best happiness is physiological happiness.

What is ‘physiological happiness’? Let me explain:

Your body is the ultimate guide.

This is how I would define physiological happiness:

Strength, vigor, and energy of your body.

I don’t think there is any greater joy than physiological happiness. Why? Mental joys are essentially bodily joys. To have physiological strength is the best naturalistic value.

For example, the joy of:

  1. Slaking/quenching your thirst (if you’re gone a long time thirsty).
  2. Satisfying your hunger (assuming you’ve fasted for a long period of time)
  3. The joy of sleep (especially after a good and triumphant long day’s of work)
  4. Sexual pleasures (especially if you’ve gone a while without it).
  5. Hormonal rush associated with lifting weights, or physical exercise.
  6. Joy of getting a (painful/joyful) massage.
  7. Joy of the adrenaline rush from coffee

I agree with Nietzsche that there is 10000x more wisdom in your own body than all of the philosophy books combined.

How to gain physiological happiness

Now this is the practical question:

How do we gain physiological happiness?

I think gaining physiological happiness is very simple. It is a combination of:

  1. Abundant sleep and recovery (8-12 hours a night)
  2. Intermittent sexual activity: Intermittent is the key. For example, to have sex 10 times a day, everyday, for a year, even with the most beautiful mates would be unpleasant.
  3. Challenging your body physically (weight lifting)
  4. Increasing your muscle mass and decreasing your body fat percentage (intermittent fasting, ketogenic diet, abstinence from sugars, alcohol)
  5. Intermittent exposure to light, heat, cold; thermal and light-based irregularities. To only have nothing but “fair” weather all-year round is not desirable. Having intermittently bad weather actually is better for our bodies physiologically.

What do you do once you have physiological happiness?

Now this is what I am currently grappling with. I (ERIC KIM) currently have apex physiological happiness and health. The question then becomes:

Now what?

One of my theories is to become ‘hyper healthy’ (to go BEYOND healthy — a new human state).

  1. Indefinite muscular gains (keep putting on muscle mass), while keeping your body fat percentage low (less than 10%).
  2. Indefinite physical strength gains
  3. Perhaps increasing your capacity for happiness and joy (is it possible for us to grow MORE neurons to feel MORE happiness and joy?)

Can we go BEYOND happy?

Also:

Is the point to then maintain your apex of physiological healthiness/happiness, or to go BEYOND?

My personal goal:

To discover if it possible to become BEYOND HAPPY; a new type of happiness that mankind has yet experienced?

Perhaps this is my new personal goal in life — to use myself (N=1) as a test subject, to see if I can achieve this new level of happiness, and discover what this really even means — and share my findings with you!

ERIC