Miloš Biković for HEDONIST: I Enjoy the Process of Thinking, the Scent of Pine and the Sea

This is how Miloš Biković, one of the most popular Serbian actors, began his conversation for HEDONIST magazine when we asked him what happiness and enjoyment mean to him. In our interlocutor's opinion, hedonism can be considered a spiritual category. As he says, today this concept is perhaps seen as trivialized and viewed through the lens of expensive cars, wine, food, and travel.

"Although a certain dose of hedonism exists in all of that, it's very dangerous when a person superficially limits themselves to only those aspects of life. I love it when someone asks me a serious question, like this one of yours, that makes me stop and think, and then I realize that I actually enjoy the very process of thinking, because it usually brings me to a new level of existence. In those moments I discover something new and get to know myself. I think that's something in short supply today, and the process of thinking itself is endangered, rare, and necessary for a quality life," Biković explained.

Besides the process of thinking, Miloš also named feelings as a very important element of enjoyment.

"I feel alive when I make contact with someone. That could be a stranger; it could be family, a friend, a flirtation, or a relationship with a partner that then resembles a harmonious dance... Besides thinking and feeling, I personally believe that the process of doing is also very important for enjoying life, because a person feels good when they do something, that is, when they achieve something they planned, and in that way confirm their own existence. That's creativity, creation in the broadest sense of the word, not just artistic - it can be present in almost every profession and field of work," Biković said.

Reflecting on the topic of our conversation, after a few seconds of thought, he adds:

Right now I can say that I enjoy having a nice glass of white wine at sunset, watching the river, but material manifestations are just one way to trigger one of the three things I mentioned."

While for many work is not enjoyable, Miloš emphasizes that he also enjoys the grueling preparations for plays, films, and series, and that small everyday things sometimes remind him of a rest from work obligations.

"If I had to single out one physical, that is, sensory manifestation, it would be the scent of pine and the sea. Every time I've smelled pine and the sea, I've felt like I was on vacation. I love the countryside, but I think it's not so much about the countryside as it is about nature itself. Nature heals; it restores. The human eye is accustomed to those colors. I feel healthier when I do physical work in nature - people need that kind of experience. Today everything is a click away, instant, immediate. You start to feel unwell when you don't have fast internet, but the time a person is given as a gift to think - say, how to light a fire or hammer in a nail - is something that, in turn, gives that same feeling of being alive. We've now reached the absurd situation where people pay enormous sums of money to return, for two weeks, to the place where our ancestors lived and from which we ourselves came," the HEDONIST interviewee vividly explains.

• Written by: Dijana Latinović / HEDONIST
• Photographer: Aleksandar Kerekeš Keky
• Collection: "Mosaic" collection of ties and scarves, Hugo Boss (Movem fashion)
• Stylists: Ashok Murty and Jelena Đukanović
• Hairstylist: Marija Kovačević Jovanović