The Pursuit of True Pleasure

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11; 3:9-14

Pleasure, in some circles, is considered a four-letter word

something we should not think about in church or discuss in polite
company. Actually, because it has eight letters, I personally think it
should be considered twice as bad as those insidious four-letter words
more than worthy of a mouthful of Ivory soap!
At least we have been brought up to think so if youre a Baptist,
a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Presbyterian, or any other Christian, except
Episcopalian, of course (where pleasure is one of the rewards for
living in the right neighborhood). Actually, its not just a Christian
perturbation; the pursuit of pleasure doesnt fare very well outside of
Christianity, either. Buddhists tend to deny it; Jews feel guilty over it;
and Muslims flagellate themselves for it.
This centuries-old moral angst over the pursuit of pleasure is
warranted in certain contexts, but in others, it may be one of the
reasons that religion has lost its hold on people in societies that are
more enlightened and free-spirited (and why, on the other hand,
religion is far more oppressive in those that are not). For right or
wrong reasons, many religious people around the world have hang-
ups over pursuing pleasure, feeling guilty when they experience it and
condemning those who indulge in it.
Lets just review the list of traditional thou shall nots many of
us cut our teeth on while growing up in church youth groups. First
and foremost, thou shall not mention or discuss the topic of sex in a
religious setting, or think vile thoughts about someone who is
attractive to you. Have I ever preached on the virtues of good sex?

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No, I have not [I should have, though]! Sex was THE taboo subject
for many of us; it was the devils temptationthe source of denial in
every good Christian home. If the good Lord had wanted us to have
sex, he wouldnt have made it pleasurable, so the thinking went.
Pleasure was the intoxicant for sin, hence sex was sinful.
Then add to that anything that might lead you astray toward
that dastardly end, where a lapse in judgment could leave you
vulnerable. So thou shall not drink, or dance, or watch movies, or eat
rich foods, or gamble, or read racy books. Instead, to please the Lord,
we were to be sober-minded in our judgment, dour in our
appearance, ascetic in our behavior, and psychologically scarred with
guilt. Guilt was goodit kept the righteous pure and holy!
Now, obviously, Im being a bit facetious here. However, I do
think it was common for people to grow up with these homespun
theories out of the Victorian age and then test them when one was out
of the home (at college, especially, where most of us eventually
discovered that a reckless pursuit of pleasure probably didnt help our
grades). But that didnt necessarily mean that we were entirely
opposed to pleasure as a concept. Why? Because, with some
reasonable controls, certain pleasures didnt seem so terrible as they
had been projected to be; they certainly seemed far more enjoyable
than sheer abstinence. So, despite our strict religious upbringing,
many of us adjusted our lifestyles to include a few previously
forbidden fruits, be it drink, dance, movies, or even chocolate. As
long as nothing became a habit (or, even worse, an addiction), then
life was good and we were happier than our parents or grandparents.
A little pleasure here, a little pleasure there; a little cream for our

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coffee, a little spice to life. That is how many of us came to quantify
the pursuit of pleasure in life in contrast to our upbringingenjoy it
in moderation. That makes sense and seems to ring true.
But then, one should think that with the loosening of
restrictions and taboos over time, with the relatively free and guiltless
pursuit of pleasure, that this would make us happier as people! One
would think so, given the freedoms and moral tolerance we now enjoy
in society. There are fewer puritanical rules and inhibitions over a
pursuit of pleasure. But in fact, the opposite seems to be true. There
is evidence to suggest that there are more unhappy people currently
in our society than at any other time! It makes you wonder: why
arent we happier, if we have no real restrictions in pursuing
pleasure? Is it because were broke and cant afford the comforts of
life? No; even in a recession we in the U.S. still possess the third
highest per capita income in the world (behind Luxembourg and
Bermuda), yet were not even near the top when it comes to the
rankings of happiest people!1 Instead, were rather miserable,
comparatively speaking. According to the Centers for Disease
Control, what backs that up is the fact that antidepressants are the
most commonly prescribed drug in America by a wide margin!
So what gives? When we have access to virtually anything and
everything that could bring us pleasure in life, why doesnt it translate
into what ultimately makes us content? Why has the pursuit of
pleasure not made us happier people?
Well, there are many reasons for this, but a simple answer to
that complex question is this: collectively, we have lost sight of what
1
Lauren Sherman, Worlds Happiest Places, Forbes, May 5, 2009; based on report by the
Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

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brings us true pleasure in life. Oh, we can indulge ourselves, pamper
ourselves, and spoil ourselves rotten gratifying every whim and
desire, but like the writer of Ecclesiastes, it reaches a point of
wondering to where does it all lead? Is this all there is to life? Why
do I still need antidepressants to get through the day?
One of the more common reactions to this social concern has
come from the Religious Right, which has tended to condemn
various aspects of American culture and attempt to turn back the
clock with social conservatismto re-impose certain moral
restrictions and punishments and taboos from an earlier era. Much
of this is based in an ideological battle where liberalism is viewed as
having destroyed traditional mores.
A less partisan approach has been to handle things more
individually, with various campaigns to promote a more austere and
abstinent lifewhere one learns to discipline him- or herself from
temptation through personal prohibitions. Its a variation on the
Just Say No! campaigns and the classic 12-step recovery programs.
Perhaps for many people those are the only sensible ways to go. But,
as we often see, those approaches can create as many problems as
they appear to solve.
A wiser way, I think, is to revisit the whole matter of what true
pleasure is. We have assumed, rightly or wrongly, but certainly
through the lens of Ecclesiastes and similar texts, that the pursuit of
pleasure is morally questionable, if not foolish; but its entirely viewed
as a selfish, if not hedonistic, pursuit of gratification through various
indulgencesbe it material pleasure, sexual pleasure, and the like.
That definition assumes that seeking pleasure is what makes people

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selfish, egocentric, and narcissistic. If thats the only way to view it,
then a world made up of selfish moral deviants is, indeed, something
to fear. You need strict rules in place to prohibit bad behavior.
But what if we were to understand pleasure as something quite
different? What if seeking pleasure was actually what made us good
as people and brought to us satisfaction, not out of making our
comfort and desires and temptations the center of our lives, but
rather by finding pleasure in what we are able to do well and what we
are able to do for others? What if seeking pleasure had more to do
with the very things that instill meaning in life, instead of being that
which is sheer vanity?
Jean Vanier, who I have referenced a few times over the last
month or so, provoked this thought in me. In an interview conducted
a few years ago on public radio, he made these comments:
An ethic of desire is good news for us at a time when we have become
allergic to an ethic of law.

Vanier is a philosopher, guided mainly by the thinking of Aristotle

and his Christian faith. From this perspective, he went on to say:
Pleasure is not..just fooling around. Pleasure is an activity that you have
performed well, be it philosophizing, be it justicewhatever you do and
you do it well, it is filled with pleasure. Its fulfillment of a desire in an
activity that you do well. [Pleasure] is the fulfillment of our deepest
desire. Somehow the deepest desire for us all is to be appreciated, to be
loved, to be seen as somebody of value.2

For Vanier, a yearning for appreciation is not just about being

admired for what you do. Being admired is when we put people on
pedestals; when you love people, you want to be together. For him,
that is the essence and the purpose of seeking pleasure: to fulfill our

2
Jean Vanier, The Wisdom of Tenderness, an interview on American Public Radio.

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deepest desires to be in relationship with others; to be valued; to be
loved. Having meaningful relationships and doing things well brings
joy to us and is a pleasure we should earnestly pursue in life.
Even though this wasnt completely new to me, I hadnt really
considered how important the distinction is between what is
commonly viewed as pleasure-seeking diversion and what it means to
seek true pleasure. When I looked at pleasure in this way, it suddenly
made more sense to me as to why people seek pleasure in those other,
more superficial and gratuitous, ways. Whether it is through material
possessions, or in sexual activity, or in personal entertainment, or in
intoxicants that help us escape from the pain of reality, or virtually
anything, people fall into them in a vain attempt to find meaning and
value for themselves, or to disengage from the very things that rob
them of meaning and value. But in those more superficial pursuits of
pleasure, there is no lasting meaning or value. It becomes, at most, a
distraction, if not a misdirection, from the pursuit of true pleasure
which is, in contrast, inspirational.
Most of us already know that. We know that when we use our
talents, and employ our gifts and abilities, when we pursue the things
we can do well, we experience a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and
joybringing us pleasure and enjoyment to others as well in the
process (if you like to cook, it brings you meaningful pleasure; if you
are a musician, it brings you pleasure; if you are good at crafts, or
teaching, or woodworking, or car maintenance, or anythingit brings
pleasure and also brings you together with others who appreciate
what you do). It is this type of pleasure-seeking that touches
something deep within our own spirit and makes us want to do them

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and to offer our gifts to others and share the experience of something
done well. This builds relationships in the process along with
personal confidence and joy.
Thats quite different than wasting time involved in more idle
pursuits and distractions that do more harm to us as we deviate from
the things that truly matter to us, providing at most temporary
gratification, instead of touching a deep yearning within us for
appreciation and value.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, God whispers to us in our pleasures
I find this to be true: God invites us to discover the best life has to
offer in a meaningful pursuit of pleasure. This perspective may even
help us appreciate the message of Ecclesiastes in a fresh, new way, for
it is absolutely true that
there is nothing betterthan to be happy and enjoy [our]selves as long as
[we] live; moreover, it is Gods gift that all should eat and drink and take
pleasure in all [our] toil. (3:12-13)

That is what life is about when we are using our time and energy well,
in productive ways from which others can benefit. We can find true
pleasure, something satisfying to our spirit, even in our toil.
It seems to me that when we are attentive to what we do well,
when we are focused on those elements of our daily life that provide a
true sense of pleasure, then fewer, if any, prohibitions are necessary
to prevent us from acting on our desires. For our desires are not
directed toward selfish ends. It is similar to the Apostle Pauls
admonition in Galatians about freedom: For you were called to
freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an
opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become servants to
one another.

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 For these inspired desires are of a different type than common
gratuitous diversions, which no longer become the Great Escape. It
doesnt require us to discipline ourselves in an ascetic lifestyle or
abstinence programs to reject all things that may be considered
temptations. Nor is this an appeal to a restrictive environment of
conservative social control. Instead, it is to live life fully and
abundantly, but do so with a pursuit of pleasure that is selfless in its
orientation, but fully satisfying in its appeal. We are inspired to find
pleasure in what we do best and in doing the best we can do, for
which we will receive in turn the good pleasure of appreciation and
love from others.
All of this makes you wonder why organized religion has missed
the boat throughout the ages. Like stern parents, it went the route of
reacting negatively to the pursuit of pleasure, often imposing
oppressive moralism and guilt upon people, when it was always
within their power to define the true nature of spiritual pleasure that
is positive and good and inspiring. What a shame, for so many
generations have lived with unnecessary guilt over it.
But, fortunately, its within our power to know what true
pleasure is, and why we should pursue it, especially as we employ the
gifts and inspirations God has given to each of us. And by doing so,
we will acknowledge that indulging in this type of pleasure is not a
sin, but rather a generous act of faith.
The Rev. Dr. Paul C. Hayes
Noank Baptist Church, Noank CT
6 September 2009