The main guideline of my thirty years on this earth has been to optimize for least pain and and I have been blessed with much more joy than I believe the average Joe experiences. I can assure you the curious mind, when unencumbered by crippling pain, will find in a lifetime's worth of enthusiasm for life.
Thats not an absense of pain.
You're essentially arguing on pedantic points. We know what they're trying to say.
That is what YOU want.
> We know what they're trying to say.
The argument your making shows your missing the subtly of what the poster and Huxley are saying.
If your house always smells like bacon, if all your drinks and food are sweet how quickly does thee joy from these things fade? A life, without contrast is one that only drives you to escalation in a single direction. At some point there would not be enough sugar in the world to indulge your sweet tooth.
Huxley was a student of buddhism, he understood that this flowed in the other direction. Chasing the pretty girl, the idea of catching her, of you and her is pleasurable. If you fail in this task it is pain... Buddhism would have you remove desire to remove pain. This idea, this theme, is the focus of Huxley's works and is present to some extent in this essay (the pleasure from passive consumption is a net bad).
Fixing the toilet isnt "fun". There is satisfaction in doing a "shitty" job, one that isnt had if you call the plumber.
Honestly though this is not the best crowd for discussing these ideas.
There is something about programming that tends to draw in people with control issues. Perhaps it's the deterministic nature of computers.
Pain is a signal from your body telling you something is going awry. I don't think you to have to be in pain in order to enjoy a night with friends or a good movie.
So yes pleasure does exist in the absence of pain and trying to avoid pain is a good idea.
Now if you are talking about effort that's something else. Your body and mind are normally equipped for effort and will reward you according to the result of this effort.
We can have nice things
The contrast was the idea I was putting forward. Pain defines pleasure if that makes sense and visa versa.
> Pain is a signal from your body telling you something is going awry.
I would say it is a signal from the mind (emotions can be painful) but I agree with your general point.
> Now if you are talking about effort that's something else. Your body and mind are normally equipped for effort and will reward you according to the result of this effort.
Cue, craving, response, reward. Is the craving not painful? If the response requires an unanticipated level of effort is that not painful?
Do you see how it isn't so much about avoiding pain and more about choosing what cues you respond to and understanding what pain is unavoidable and/or what pain you are willing to endure.