I would like to share a discussion I had with someone in regards to my worldview. Other people can read it to gain further insight about me and my values:

Other Person's Response: It doesn't matter how a person feels. What matters is what a person does with his life and what contributions or impact he's made.

My Reply: I vehemently disagree based upon my own personal experience which was something powerful and profound. It's all about the experience because perception and experience are the same thing. As long as you cannot perceive the color red, then you aren't experiencing the color red and vice versa. As long as you cannot perceive any value in your life, then you aren't experiencing value either. Like I said earlier, I think it can only be our positive emotions that allow us to experience beauty and joy in our lives.

I can come up with words to describe positive emotions. Positive emotions come in various forms whether it be feelings of love, joy, beauty, attraction, fun, or adventure. So, I would describe positive emotions as being beauty, love, joy, attraction, fun, wild, and adventurous. Our intellect, morality, and character alone cannot give us such an amazing experience which means nothing else can give us such a beautiful experience.

Sure, a depressed or miserable person can choose to go on an adventure. But he would be left out of the whole experience since he wouldn't be able to perceive/experience any beauty, joy, or fun in his life without his positive emotions. The more positive emotions you have and the more profound and intense you experience them, the greater beauty, fun, and joy your life has.

Other Person's Response: I think our intellect, morality, and character really can give us such an experience.

My Reply: Consider any amazing or beautiful experience in your life to be a golden gem that shines very bright. Can your intellect, morality, and character alone give you that gem? No, it can't. That gem is an actual thing and just thinking of that gem won't give you that gem and believing you have that gem won't give you that gem either. That gem would be our positive emotions.

If you lose that gem due to any number of factors whether it be clinical depression or emotional trauma, then you are screwed for the time being until you can regain that gem. It's only once you regain that gem would your life be filled with beauty, joy, and greatness. That's the reason why I give up on my life and hobbies whenever I lose my positive emotions because my life and hobbies are without any value for the time being.

Other Person's Response: If there is a god, then I think our purpose here on Earth is something far more than just hedonistic pleasure-seeking.

My Reply: If there is a god, then I think our positive emotions are god's holy light within us. Without his holy light, then we become dead and empty on the inside. So, my worldview would be a religious form of hedonism. In case you wish to know what hedonism is, hedonism is a philosophy which states that positive emotions are the only good things in life and negative emotions are the only bad things in life.

So, hedonism is a philosophy which states that having fun and enjoying our lives is the only beautiful and worthwhile life to live. Life was meant to be a beautiful, happy, fun adventure. It was never meant to be a miserable struggle since such a life is nothing good or beautiful. It is the worst hell. Sadly, we live a life where it's mostly a miserable struggle since so many people struggle with depression and misery. That is very unfortunate and sad.

Other Person's Response: According to your worldview, a miserable, struggling person making the best of his life and contributing to the world would be a life that is nothing good or beautiful. But a person paralyzed in a bed his whole entire life in a state of profound bliss would be living a very beautiful life.

My Reply: Correct. Again, it's not about what we do with our lives or what contributions we make. It's about what mental state we are in. As long as you are not in the mental state that allows you to truly perceive and experience any value in your life, then your life is empty and without any value. What would it matter to that person if you told him that his life still has value and worth? It wouldn't matter to him because, without his ability to perceive value and worth, then his life really is without value and worth from his perspective.

Given this, it would be much better off for you to become a paralyzed person in a bed feeling bliss his whole entire life rather than you being a miserable/depressed person living the life of his dreams. It wouldn't matter how much luxury or riches you have. Without your positive emotions, none of it can be anything beautiful in your life.

Other Person's Response: My life doesn't need any value. As long as I have made the lives of others valuable, then that's what matters.

My Reply: But without your ability to perceive that as something valuable, then it wouldn't matter to you. That's why you need to feel positive emotions when making the lives of others valuable to perceive it as something beautiful and worthwhile. So many depressed, miserable people are deluding themselves into believing that they are perceiving beauty and worth in their lives independent of their positive emotions when none of that's true. People wish to go beyond their emotions and instead wish to base their values on things such as self-sacrifice or altruism. But you still need your positive emotions to perceive moments, things, and situations in your life as beautiful and worth living for.