“What’s wrong with pleasure?” my therapist once asked me.
I think she was reacting to something self-shaming that I’d said. While I don’t think there’s anything morally wrong with pleasure, I do think that pleasure can lead us astray because it can be addicting. On a recent trip to Japan, my wife and I walked through a doorway on a Tokyo street and saw this:
This was a Pachinko parlor, were visitors, mostly men, gambled in a game that’s something of a cross between slot machines and pinball. The pachinko industry in Japan is worth $200 billion — 30 times what Vegas makes in gambling, and double the size of Japan’s export car industry. Crazy!
So, do we become Puritans or Spartans and avoid pleasure entirely?
I don’t think that’s necessary. I think we can upgrade pleasure by adding one of three ingredients (or two or three):
- Memory — we can use pleasure to create a memory, for example going to a fancy dinner to celebrate a birthday
- Community — we can share pleasures with loved ones, for example having a wedding dance party
- Mindfulness — we can consciously savor pleasures, such as mindfully eating a tangerine
So after thinking about it, I would say to my therapist that yes, I do think there is something wrong with pure pleasure, because it can potentially isolate us. It lead us into a state of addiction, of chasing sugar or Pachinko highs. But if we upgrade pleasure with the ingredients above, then it can be a great thing.
Thank you, Arthur C. Brooks, for these insights.
danscreativeoulet 