Part of the reason moments of pleasure or joy are so enjoyable is because deep down we know we are tasting something other worldly. This is why addiction is so easy to fall into. We know a moment of pleasure is not something man deserves to have access to, so we seek it all the more. We become so desperate that any means, no matter how damaging, will suit our aim to feel more pleasure. Rather than straining to satisfy an unquenchable thirst by chasing rain drops, we can drink from the cup that promises us to thirst no more. And we should remember that any moment of pleasure or joy is undeserved. You will either pursue the moments themselves, or pursue the source of them. The first is illusive and damning, the other is illuminating and freeing.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Eternal Pleasure
Part of the reason moments of pleasure or joy are so enjoyable is because deep down we know we are tasting something other worldly. This is why addiction is so easy to fall into. We know a moment of pleasure is not something man deserves to have access to, so we seek it all the more. We become so desperate that any means, no matter how damaging, will suit our aim to feel more pleasure. Rather than straining to satisfy an unquenchable thirst by chasing rain drops, we can drink from the cup that promises us to thirst no more. And we should remember that any moment of pleasure or joy is undeserved. You will either pursue the moments themselves, or pursue the source of them. The first is illusive and damning, the other is illuminating and freeing.
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17 comments:
Just met your blogs by chance and I like your post. Nice peice of work. Keep it up fellow.
Visit me at www.worlasi.blogspot.com as I would be expecting to read your comments too.
very useful read. I would love to follow you on twitter.
It is useful to try everything in practice anyway and I like that here it's always possible to find something new. :)
Another reason people fall into addiction is to fill a hole in their lives. Escapism is a powerful, powerful force and for me it took the "wake up call" of being arrested for domestic violence in November of 2008 before I realized I had a problem. But I am now studying for the ministry and am in seminary. Thank God that is all behind me now!
Vaden Chandler
The Arete' Blog
www.ordinary80.blogspot.com
Good to hear your story, Vaden. God chastens those He loves. Thanks for commenting!
Surely we only appreciate pleasure and joy because we know the other state of pain and unhappiness. Pleasure is not wrong, after all why would God make the act of procreation so much fun. As for addiction some peoples despair drives them to seek refuge in what they think is perpetual joy but is in fact an anasthetic dulling the wounds that they are unable to bear.
"God chastens those He loves."
I care for a lady whose life is nearing it's end. She was raised in Ireland by the Sisters of Mercy and her childhood was one of savage beatings, slave labour and a complete absence of love, compassion and respect. The humiliation and abuse that these children suffered is well documented, as i'm sure you're aware, but having heard her story first hand it beggars belief that your statement has any validity.
Her life has been a constant battle to cope with such horrific memories and now that her health and strength is failing after long illness, the demons of the past are now winning the battle over her psychological state and she sinks deeper into her own hell.
What has she done to deserve such a life of pain? Those who advocate that this is but a preparation for another life should undergo such torture themselves to see if they still hold to that belief.
I bear you no personal ill will, just a desire for healthy debate. If you feel that i offend you with my stance i shall depart your place and leave you in peace, but i do think that testing any theory is a standard scientific attempt to prove truth.
To make the judgment that what has happened to your friend is evil or wrong is to say that some over-arching all encompassing moral rule exists. If our existence is just a closed natural system, then you can not claim the strong preying on the weak is wrong. Is it wrong for a lioness to chase down and kill the weak baby antelope? If we are not marked with a stamp of right and wrong and have merely evolved into beings that think in the realm of right and wrong, then right and wrong is not ultimate and can not be applied to all peoples everywhere. In other words, before you can even say what happened to your friend is wrong, you have to admit an ultimate moral order exists above nature. As soon as you do that, you deny the naturalistic worldview you claim to hold to. So, if I acknowledge and agree that what happened to this poor women is wrong, I can only do so on the basis of an ultimate moral rule that exists by which to judge the actions of mankind.
Now, moving on to address the criticism that bad things happening to people means God is unloving or non-existent. To say that if God exists or is loving he would not put anyone through such horrific conditions is to say that you know what is loving and ultimately what should have happened to this woman. In other words, you are saying you know what is best. If you know what is best, out of the numerous possibilities for a person's outcome in life, then you are claiming to have the Godlike quality of omniscience. Hopefully you can see the point I am driving at. Whether God exists or not can not be determined by an example of someone who had a terrible life. The only way it could be a determining factor was if you were actually God and could say what happened was not best. Now you could say that it means God is not loving, but once you admit the possibility for a perfect and all powerful God existing, you admit he knows better than you.
To paraphrase all of that: You can't say what happened to her is wrong unless an ultimate definition of right and wrong exists. And you can't say an ultimate definition of right and wrong exists if we live in a closed natural system (empirical study of nature can't arrive at metaphysical rules). If you open the possibility for a God existing then you can't say you know better than him. The only way to say you know better than him is to claim to be God yourself.
Moral judgement is a facet of abstract intelligence that is able to comprehend the emotions of others. There is no right or wrong, only an empathy with those who suffer pain and sadness.
This ability is available to the higher intelligence that our species,has developed. The Lioness only kills to satisfy a basic need. Hunger.
Morals are fashionable and in step with human development. Only recently have we moved on from regarding others as chattels to be owned, traded and enslaved by no doubt god fearing christians who would happily lynch those who refused to bow down to a superior belief in the supremacy of one race and one religious belief above another.
To say that what happened to her isn't wrong is to cheapen her life and excuse the abuse perpetrated by those that pass off their own inhumanity as Gods will. This explains the absurdity of warring tribes to both claim that God is on their side
Evolving intellect raised Man up from the herd and allowed him to question his own behaviour and arrive at the present mental capacity for rationale. This work is ongoing and future societies will probably regard us as a primitive species struggling to escape from superstitious dogma that encourages the infliction of suffering on others as a test of faith.
hiya
just signed up and wanted to say hello while I read through the posts
hopefully this is just what im looking for looks like i have a lot to read.
Thanks :) You are welcome to comment on anything here.
really good words ^^
I wish I had read this before giving the talk in my church on addiction...its other-worldly
hey i stumbled on your blog at another website. very cool.
thought i might offer a thought on pleasure. one of my favorite books is ecclesiastes. i think one of the main points of that book is that there is a rightful place for enjoying earthly pleasures & pursuits. the problem comes when the pleasures themselves become the main thing. i think it's okay to enjoy world pleasures as long as we recognize their proper place and keep them in it. that's why Qohelet can tell us, after expressing the futility of his hedonism & accomplishments, to remember to take delight in our work or in our wine, recognizing, of course, their lack of permanence and proper place.
Good thoughts, Mike. That's precisely what I meant when I said that you can either pursue the moments of pleasure themselves or the source of them.
Hi Lucas... Browsing blogs and came across yours. Very nice. This particular one strikes a chord with me as I have been recently trying to break free from the LOVE of all things Facebook. Sounds silly I'm sure. But, this southern girl loves her friends, and their friends, and somebody next door's friends. You get te point. I love your line.' you will either pursue the moments themselves, or pursue the source of the them'.. Cool stuff. Looking forward to checking out what subject of your blog comes next. It wouldn't happen to be a warning about having a love for all things chocolate, would it? :) blessings to you and yours. Jen~ http://facebookfreefor90days.blogspot.com/
Thanks for your thoughts, Jennifer. I agree about how sites like facebook can become a dominating force of your time. I actually wrote about facebook and twitter not too long ago:
http://lucasknisely.blogspot.com/2009/11/quit-using-facebook-to-glorify-yourself.html
great blog you got here, with useful informations!
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