I linked to it at the bottom of the article, but I was asking if there was any good reason to pursue ambition over total hedonism, and I now think that the answer is "goodness is an end-in-itself too" and I'm pretty okay with it.

The way I look at it is, I'm good because that is what I prefer. There are many possible futures. I prefer some of those futures more than the others. I try my best to choose my favorite future with my actions. "Goodness" is part of what I prefer to happen, which is why I choose it. (And a version of me which didn't prefer goodness wouldn't be me, preferring goodness is a pretty big part of what goes into the definition of "me".)

Wow, I really like how you put that. Other people have tried to share a similar concept with me, but it always seemed cheesy and superficial. It never really started to sink in until now. I think it was the words "natural" and "warm" that did it for me. So thanks!

Very glad I could be helpful! I find Neil D.Tyson / Sagan-esque talk kinda cheesy too. But I remember when I was a kid dabbling in philosophy, thinking hard about free will and monitoring my own thoughts for any trace of randomness, and suddenly it just became really clear that my thoughts and feelings followed predictable processes and there wasn't any sharp boundary between the laws governing objects and the laws governing minds. It was kind of a magical moment, I felt pretty connected to the universe and all that jazz. It is cheesy, but it's pretty hard to talk about these sorts of spiritual-ish experiences without sounding cheesy.