Wednesday Philosophical Query #6

From Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity:

It must not be forgotten that there is a concrete bond between freedom and existence; to will man free is to will there to be being, it is to will the disclosure of being in the joy of existence; in order for the idea of liberation to have a concrete meaning, the joy of existence must be asserted in each one, at every instant; the movement toward freedom assumes its real, flesh and blood figure in the world by thickening into pleasure, into happiness.  If the satisfaction of an old man drinking a glass of wine counts for nothing, then production and wealth are only hollow myths; they have meaning only if they are capable of being retrieved in individual and living joy.  The saving of time and the conquest of leisure have no meaning if we are not moved by the laugh of a child at play.  If we do not love on our own account an through others, it is futile to seek to justify it in any way.

Lots here to ponder and discuss.