Whoever loves pleasure will suffer want
How simple, and how true. It is in our endless search for pleasure that we discover all we do not have. All that, if we only had it, would make us infinitely happier, or more revered, or . . .
But who doesn’t love pleasure? I don’t believe we are called to shun pleasurable things, or to cognitively decide we don’t like it. Sometimes our souls, bodies and minds know pleasure and appreciate pleasure, regardless of what our brain tries to say. I, for example, get great pleasure out of these small salted caramels we got. Originally, we had one after dinner. A perfect small after dinner snack. I must admit that I’ve gone to eating one after lunch, and one after dinner. And maybe one in the early afternoon. But I digress. The point is that I find them very pleasurable.
The challenge comes when we let that love of pleasure become the driver for our actions. In my caramel world, it’s when I seek out that pleasurable reward that I end up eating not one but four caramels, and I am left wanting more. Except after a few, they don’t bring the same deep joy. Ugh.
Perhaps the challenge is in acknowledging that there are things that bring us pleasure, and appreciating when they do, but to stop there. We can enjoy pleasure when it comes our way, but we shouldn’t seek it out. We shouldn’t let our desire for pleasurable things be the prime motivator in our lives. If we do, we risk eating the whole box of caramels at one sitting.
Human nature, when it comes across something pleasurable does want more. I’m not sure how we trick ourselves into stopping when we’ve experienced that moment of pleasure. Let it resonate in our souls, and then walk away.
Maybe it’s by making friends with the sensation of wanting something, and not seeing it as suffering. After all, a good dinner is made all the better by a touch of hunger.
This morning, I’m thinking about how to appreciate the pleasures in life, while not experiencing the suffering of want.
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