Hedonism: the enduring -ism.

Hedonism: the ism which has never, and will never, go out of fashion.
There was Creationism
And then there was Rationalism
There was Socialism, Marxism, Communism
And then there was Capitalism
There was Absolutism
And then there was Reformism and Antiestablishmentism
There was Racism, Sexism
And then there was Equalitarianism and Feminism
There was Regionalism, Nationalism
And then there was Globalism
There was Egalitarianism
And then there was Nihilism
There was Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism
And then there was Secularism and Atheism
There was Ethisism
And then there was Amoralism
And of course there have always been innumerable other -isms like sadism and masochism. ;)

Everything came and went, or will go some time in the future. The one -ism which will remain; and in all probability, grow from its already obnoxious (according to some pretentious judgmental beings) form; is hedonism.

The dictionary defines hedonism as the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle or an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good.

As soon as you grasp the concept, you question yourself if it is the way to go. Si, senor, it is. You will rubbish the claim from the word Go if you are the type to avidly follow The Speaking Tree published in the Times of India or something similar. They (they being the saints and the mahatmas and the higher ups in the spiritual hierarchy) claim, and they may be right, that only by starving the body of worldly pleasures will we gain higher pleasures. It is at this point that we are unwillingly forced to acknowledge the question of what we are really aiming for: one is tempted to answer in the method ingrained in our psyche, namely, the relatively long lasting low intensity happiness and so called satisfaction (remember, satisfactory is the grade they award to children in primary school below excellent, good and fair; above poor though; before they begin to devaluate childhood in terms of mere percentages). One tends to forget that the period between coming to our senses and senility (nonchalantly referred to as life) is nothing but a series of moments and hedonism is the school which perpetuates the concept of seizing the moment.

One aspect to which a unanimous conclusion can be reached though, is that only by achieving; or trying to exist in a state of; utilitarianism, i.e. the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, can we derive true happiness out of our hedonistic pursuits.