Sensualist (n) 1. One who is sensual; one given to the indulgence of the appetites or senses as the means of happiness. 2. One who follows the doctrine of sensualism.

Sensualism (n) 1. The condition or character of one who is sensual; subjection to sensual feelings and appetite; sensuality. 2. (Philos.) The doctrine that all our ideas, or the operations of the understanding, not only originate in sensation, but are transformed sensations, copies or relics of sensations. 3. (Ethics) The regarding of the gratification of the senses as the highest good.

My personal (spiritual) beliefs:
I was raised fundamentalist Christian. My grandparents were converts of Amy Semple McPherson, and together they started the Foursquare Church. My grandmother, at 92, is very proud to have spent nearly 65 years "in the ministry".

Like many raised in such a repressive religion, I had a crisis of Faith in my teens that left me very sensitive to hypocrisy and intolerant of -- well, intolerant Christians :) I commenced to visit nearly every church and study every religion and philosophy I could get reading material on, convinced that I had to have -some- religion or my soul was lost.

A good deal of time has passed. Emotion and knowledge have been tempered with experience -- I like to think I've gained some wisdom, but at the very least, I know I've mellowed. I have come to believe that 'churches' specifically and 'organized religions' in general are little more than well-disguised institutions of social control / compelling conformation.

Most heinous, I believe, is the ferocity with which some 'religionists' defend their spiritual territory, insisting that Their Way is the Only Way to God. It is my observation that all true religions were formed with the same goals in mind and thus are really just a multitude of Paths all leading to the same Place. Some call it God. Yaweh. Allah. Atman. Nirvana. Valhalla.

Myself, I subscribe to the rather hedonistic belief that pleasure and happiness are the ultimate Good. I do what feels right and good, and live my life as a joyous celebration of that which I was given: flesh, mind, and spirit. I have dedicated myself to the pursuit of happiness -- something entirely too rare in this world. What better use for the life God has given me, than to find joy in it?