The reason I write like I do above is that I'm giving a philosophical vision, not a series of concrete suggestions. I'm trying to explain why suffering exists generally, and how humans have freedom not just in spite of -- but because of suffering.

Of course you are right that you can express anything and possibly enhance it. But I don't necessarily think that self-expression always alleviates pain, and I don't think enhancing positive experiences is its point either.

What I think it does is something different. It opens up an aesthetic dimension of experience.

Let me give you another example. You watch a sad movie and are totally absorbed by it. Then you remember that it's just a movie. And you start to think about and notice the acting, the cinematography, the set design, the costumes, the writing.

Now that doesn't make it any less of a sad movie. It remains tragic. But it opens up aesthetic aspects of the movie-going experience.

Or to take your example of sex. Thinking closely about experience of "good sex" might actually reveal it to be, upon thought, not so good sex. So your memory of it, once you become more critical, might actually become more negative. So it need not enhance your experience.

What it will do, regardless, is deepen the aesthetic facet of the experience, deepen your appreciation of the complexities of it.