{"id":3580,"date":"2016-10-19T07:15:24","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T07:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/?p=3580"},"modified":"2017-05-09T03:01:25","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T03:01:25","slug":"the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Paradox of Pain and Pleasure &#8211; Thoughts on Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>I am enchanted by historic places. The visit to the Versailles left me in a deep space that the culture of a nation is dependent on the actions of the monarchy. Paris followed the fashion trends of Marie Antoinette for she was the Queen of France. But they abhorred her for she did not socialise with the ladies of the aristocracy that lead to her head being guillotined. Similarly, the Empress Cixi of China loved Chinese Opera and had a theater built in the palace for her to watch the opera lounging beside a window, and following this tradition, they held opera performances in all the districts in China to consolidate their control over their empire through the power of culture. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-19-at-3.20.17-pm.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3582 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-19-at-3.20.17-pm-226x300.png\" alt=\"Marie Antoinette\" width=\"226\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-19-at-3.20.17-pm-226x300.png 226w, http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-19-at-3.20.17-pm.png 525w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If I could go back in history, or rewrite history from this point on &#8211; I would make BDSM lifestyle a mainstream pursuit. The state of the world today has to do with the construct and introduction of financial markets and globalisation. People spend too much time in pursuing materialistic acquisitions and paying sky high mortgages than do anything meaningful. In this sense, there is a focus on self-inflicting pain and suffering on oneself to achieve material goals instead of the pursuit of pleasure, freedom, and quality of life by investing in relationships. This may not make any sense, but this is something I see very clearly when I travel.<\/p>\n<p>I see the BDSM lifestyle an answer to having liberal attitudes towards sexuality and in this sense, divert the focus away from material acquisitions to investing in quality relationships. Move from the pursuit of pain, to the pursuit of pleasure. Move from loss of control, to total control. Move from misunderstandings, to compromise. I am proposing a wild answer to the state of our existence today, but it has been examined by <a href=\"http:\/\/philosophystories.tumblr.com\/post\/23733780171\/philosophy-stories-7-rousseau-and-his-interest\">philosophers<\/a> such as Rousseau. &#8220;\u2018Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>These are the topics I am examining in writing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/category\/the-prince\/\">The Prince<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am enchanted by historic places. The visit to the Versailles left me in a deep space that the culture of a nation is dependent on the actions of the monarchy. Paris followed the fashion trends of Marie Antoinette for she was the Queen of France. But they abhorred her for she did not socialise [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.0.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Paradox of Pain and Pleasure - Thoughts on Culture - AVERRAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am enchanted by historic places. The visit to the Versailles left me in a deep space that the culture of a nation is dependent on the actions of the monarchy. 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But they abhorred her for she did not socialise [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AVERRAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/risquescarlet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-19T07:15:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-09T03:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-19-at-3.20.17-pm-226x300.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"AVERRAL\",\"description\":\"The assertion of the truth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-19-at-3.20.17-pm.png\",\"width\":525,\"height\":696},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/\",\"name\":\"The Paradox of Pain and Pleasure - Thoughts on Culture - AVERRAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-19T07:15:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-09T03:01:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b07f92e50288351f51047e34bd45bc1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.averral.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/the-paradox-of-pain-and-pleasure-thoughts-on-culture\/\",\"name\":\"The Paradox of Pain and Pleasure &#8211; 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