Having fun while doing good: What Aristotle might say about Numana
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I’ve never had so much fun doing so much good!” I have heard that phrase more than once at our events as people package life-saving meals in a festive atmosphere. With the number of people we have showing up at our events, apparently others are of the same sentiment. Packaging meals for starving people is an incredibly satisfying activity.
Aristotle, the philosopher, spent a great deal of his energy contemplating the concept of “Pleasure.” And every philosopher always has his/her concept of the “ultimate good.” It’s also called, in Latin, the “summum bonum- the highest good.” Whether you know it or not, you have your own summum bonum. It is that one thing in your life you strive for more than anything else. It is the highest value. It is your ultimate good. It’s why you get out of bed in the morning. It drives everything you do whether you know it or not. Different people have different summum bonums.
But Aristotle would argue that we all need to have the same “ultimate good” and that, for him was pleasure. However, he was not talking about just having a good time on Saturday night, or taking the dream vacation, or some activity that was just a party. He said that pleasure comes from virtuous activity. In other words, we feel best when we’re doing good things.
Quite often the motivation to help feed starving people is based on guilt, shame, manipulation, duty, and moral obligation. We’d like to change that. We are changing that. You are changing that because you are discovering the incredible sense of satisfaction in alleviating hunger because you can package meals and DO SOMETHING-what Aristotle would call a “virtuous activity.”
Pleasure with a purpose is the purest form of human activity.