In an essay titled ‘The Cult of Life,’ Huizinga points out how, in contemporary society, the increase of comfort and the possibility of satisfaction and security have led to a devaluation of life, expressed in a “cult of life” as an end in itself. People who are frantically engaged in all sorts of enjoyments and satisfaction of earthly pleasures are quick to slouch into a view of life that is reduced to the pure and unrestrained assertion of vital values. Games, sex, food, and all sorts of pleasures become activities that we are diligently committed to– activities that we ‘owe’ to ourselves as they contribute to our happiness. At the same time, work, relationships, and responsibilities take a back seat in our life and become activities that we reluctantly engage in. They become obligations that stand in the way of our own enjoyment which has become life itself.
In this kind of outlook, comfort, security, pleasure, and the pursuit of our own happiness, understood as the satisfaction of our primary needs, are exalted to the point of becoming guiding ethical values; activities that we must continuously engage with. People recognise without hesitation earthly life as the goal of all aspiration and action. As a result, the preservation of life becomes an obsession, the ultimate duty that we must perform in order to keep enjoying the pleasures of life in order to keep up with the celebrations of the self.
