Friday, January 24, 2025
The piston that seems to drive the universe is pleasure. We gravitate towards pleasure with no effort. There are different levels, however. There is contentment, which seems to be a balanced state. There is euphoria, which seems to have no limit. There is laughter which is a boost of frivolity. But there is also pain, which is insidiously pleasurable to many.
We are deriving pleasure out of pain. Hunger is a sort of pain. We call it a pang. Severe exceptions aside, hunger can be stimulating – which is another form of pleasure. It can give you energy once the lethargy dissipates. It gives you focus, cleanses the body, boosts energy, and creates drive. Think about its purpose – drive. The drive chain of life is the pleasure/pain friction that buzzes along a blurry line.
Sex drive is pleasure-seeking. Movement is pleasure-seeking. Rest is pleasure-seeking. We are pleasure-seeking creatures. All creatures are. We gravitate towards it, and that creates the contrasting spark that makes things happen. If you have pain, you seek to relieve it. However, some people confuse relief for attention.
Some people seek pleasure in their suffering. They prolong their suffering for a pep talk. They like the pat on the shoulder from others who say, “We’re praying for you,” or “You’ll get ‘em next time!” Some derive pleasure in fighting. After they storm off from the argument, the argument continues in the brain of one. What joy!
Humans seek pleasure in complaining, illness, problems, and oppression. Entire communities have formed around suffering, identities of victimhood, which is pleasure-seeking. We are a sneaky breed. We seek pleasure in what we think we’re avoiding. There are people who seek out pleasure in violence, death, destruction, and overeating. Overeating is pleasurable. Is death pleasurable? You bet. We’ll seek it any way we can, even in suffering and ultimately in death.