Most people know what it is like to experience pleasure, but few really understand what constitutes happiness. People say that their goal in life is to be happy. Yet they find defining and achieving it difficult.
Pleasure is transient. Pleasure is the feeling we might get from enjoying different things that make us feel good. But that pleasurable feeling quickly dissipates within a few minutes or hours; its shelf-life is short, often fleeting. Pleasure is experienced through the pleasure circuit in our brain. Certain substances can stimulate the pleasure center and certain activities can stimulate a release of neurotransmitters in our brain that affect the pleasure circuit resulting in a pleasurable sensation or sense of euphoria.
There are people who are satisfied with living a life of pleasure. Many people become pleasure seekers, always looking for the next buzz, the next high. They can become addicted to the experience and may need bigger and bigger thrills to get a similar high. They may pursue the rush experienced when gambling, the buzz of doing something dangerous, or the high associated with some substance. No matter how much pleasure they receive at any given moment, it is seldom enough, and never lasts.
Pleasure is transient. Pleasure is the feeling we might get from enjoying different things that make us feel good. But that pleasurable feeling quickly dissipates within a few minutes or hours; its shelf-life is short, often fleeting. Pleasure is experienced through the pleasure circuit in our brain. Certain substances can stimulate the pleasure center and certain activities can stimulate a release of neurotransmitters in our brain that affect the pleasure circuit resulting in a pleasurable sensation or sense of euphoria.
There are people who are satisfied with living a life of pleasure. Many people become pleasure seekers, always looking for the next buzz, the next high. They can become addicted to the experience and may need bigger and bigger thrills to get a similar high. They may pursue the rush experienced when gambling, the buzz of doing something dangerous, or the high associated with some substance. No matter how much pleasure they receive at any given moment, it is seldom enough, and never lasts.
Enjoying and seeking pleasure is hard-wired into the human being. Infants enjoy being cuddled and stroked; they seek it and are soothed by it. Children like to alter their consciousness by spinning. They engage in repetitive activities just because doing so feels good. Bottom line: seeking pleasure is a normal human activity.
However, it can become a problem when seeking pleasure becomes a way of life and interferes with developing one’s full human potential. Developing our full potential as human beings requires that we are willing to go beyond pleasure. This does not mean that one must give up pleasures. It only means that we have to learn to suspend solely pursuing pleasure in order to move beyond it. Happiness lies beyond pleasure.
Author and Credits: Dr. Dreyfus