I promised last time to talk about pleasure. It’s kind of an important thing in life. Much better than pain – but the pain we endure to get there. What is pleasure and how it relates to our survival is important. There is much spoken in Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health about pleasure and below you will find one of my favourite quotes. I love it when Hubbard waxes poetic, which he does throughout his writings and lectures. Here you go: (more of a description than a definition)
“There is therefore a necessity for pleasure, for working, as happiness can be defined, toward known goals over not unknowable obstacles. And the necessity for pleasure is such that a great deal of pain can be borne to attain it. Pleasure is the positive commodity. It is enjoyment of work, contemplation of deeds well done; it is a good book or a good friend; it is taking all the skin off one’s knees climbing the Matterhorn; it is hearing the kid first say daddy; it is a brawl on the Bund at Shanghai or the whistle of amour from a doorway; it’s adventure and hope and enthusiasm and “someday I’ll learn to paint”; it’s eating a good meal or kissing a pretty girl or playing a stiff game of bluff on the stock exchange. It’s what Man does that he enjoys doing; it’s what Man does that he enjoys contemplating; it’s what Man does that he enjoys remembering; and it may be just the talk of things he knows he’ll never do.”
from Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by L Ron Hubbard
For me this passage put the adventure back in life (and I have the recent scars to prove it – ask me about them if you like). Enjoy – have a great day!
