DISCLAIMER: the following is Merlin's disjointed ruminations resulting from severe post-trip depression.

In the early days, many experts in the psychology field believed that the decisions an individual makes were largely driven by happinenss, safety and pleasure. This is all well and good, but it didn't quite encapsulate my thoughts and experiences regarding our hobby; something more than happiness and sexual pleasure propelled me to seek out these adventures that I, and others here, report about. Many Hombres I've come across so far bore out this reality already, they were already happy and successful people in the real world. There was something more that was motivating us to continously seek out these adventures.

Well, recently, some prominent people in the behavorial sciences inserted a twist into this conventional paradigm, they say that people don't want to feel just happy and secure, they want to feel "alive", and part of feeling alive is having and experience the full range of emotions and experiences, taking risks, going through the lows and highs. In otherwords, it's not a matter of what course leads to happiness and pleasure, but what course is unpredictable and challenging as well. Routine, for many, is the enemy of true emotions and truly feeling alive.

Well, I'm struck by how relevant this stuff is to me. Brilliance is when people point out the obvious in new and creative ways. I've been engaging in this hobby to feel alive and to feel the true and intense range of emotions that only a mongering life can offer. So it's not just about the pussy anymore. Thanks to the prominent eggheads that just pointed this out to me.

amen!

Finally a " Raison d'etre " !!

Maybe now I can write off all my trips
as "therapy ".

Merlin you ae so right!