Would that include your definition of a "comfort"? Namely simply not wanting to live in a place that's slowly killing you?
I think the "comforts" idea sounds cool at first -- hey, look at me, I gave up my earthly desires, I am enlightened! -- until you squint your eyes and recognize that most of us are living in conditions that, again, are literally slowly killing us.
Wanting to avoid that is not "comfort". It should be a fundamental human right but what can you do, that's not the world we live in.
Apologies if I projected. Not attacking you, just explained which neurons got triggered in my head.
No worries, and I probably didn’t take the time to explain my perspective better.
I don’t think any comforts are “bad”, assuming they aren’t built upon oppressing someone else. And there’s nothing wrong in my view with pursuing them. But there’s a needle to thread between pursuing comforts and needing comforts to be happy. The hedonic treadmill really seems to limit the latter.
There’s nothing wrong in pursuing good nutrition as an example, but I don’t want to be the person who can’t enjoy a good meal because I can’t ensure every ingredient is organic. The obsession with comforts can pull us out of the present because it’s rooted in subjective comparison.
Avoiding discomfort as a primarily goal doesn’t seem particularly healthy to me. Avoiding intense exercise because it’s discomforting or avoiding tough choices regarding climate change because they are uncomfortable don’t seem to me as particularly enlightened.
We're in a full agreement.
But I really do mean things that with time I started to consider basic needs. Hedonism I don't endorse in general -- or at least, as you said, not when it's at the expense of someone else. If you made your money fairly and without screwing over others then sure, splurge as much as you like.