The Pursuit of Happiness Examined

The American constitution enshrines the pursuit of happiness; this is fine. My problem is that the pursuit of happiness is usually perverted into the pursuit of pleasure which is a totally different thing.

But Pleasure is… Pleasurable

You might argue that pleasure is a good thing. After all, it is pleasurable. What’s the problem with that? We all feel pleasure from time to time from a variety of things, and surely there is no harm in that?

The Nature of Pleasure

I’m not advocating a total renunciation of pleasure. On the other hand, the pursuit of pleasure is quite dangerous as it typically leads to the opposite result… pain. Pleasure is often addictive to a small extent or to a great extent. Pursuing pleasure for it’s own sake increases the risk of this addiction or dependence. It also increases our sensitivity to the lack of the particular pleasure in question.

Serendipitous Pleasure

Unplanned and unsought pleasure may bring both the pleasure itself and an accompanying happiness. This is great. On the journey through our life a little serendipitous pleasure is a great thing.

Seeking Pleasure

But I have had friends who boldly told me they were pursuing pleasure. It made me think of Margaret Lawrence, a famous Canadian author I studied in High school. I was so interested in Margaret Lawrence that I read some of her essays independently. Her collection of essays called “A Place to Stand” contained a short idea that has remained with me. She said, we should try to aim for more than just survival in this life. We should not just try to get through live to the end of it. We should try for more.

Death is Waiting

I thought long and hard about this over the years. The end of life is coming to all of us. Death is waiting there for us. That cannot be changed. But the time between now and then is where we hold power.

Marking Time

To me, seeking pleasure is merely marking time until we die in the least painful way we can. In other words, we are just marking days until we die. This is simply unacceptable for me. I cannot “just mark the days until I die” regardless of how much or little pleasure I get. I cannot describe her what I believe I should do with my time, but it is clear to me what I should not do. Merely seeking pleasure is one notch above seeking death. We are merely forestalling our death in a slightly pleasurable way, and ironically the seeking of pleasure often produces the exact opposite. That would be a tremendous waste of my life.