Pleasure vs Happiness
Animal vs Human
Animals and humans both feel pleasure but only humans are capable of happiness. They are both positive experiences and sometimes we equate the two but they are actually very different.
Pleasure is a simplistic physical drive common to all animals and is centered in the moment. Happiness is unique to humans, is a higher order complex interaction between our intellect and our emotions, and is not necessarily associated with a moment in time.
Pleasure is the partner to pain and is purely about the most simplistic drives to do things that will keep the organism alive and propagate its genes. It is about the body, the animal, the present, the immediate. Animals are only concerned about the survival of the species and as a result pleasure doesn’t require consciousness, it only requires existence.
As a result, pleasure mindlessly pushes the organism towards actions that are statistically associated with positive outcomes regardless of the current situation, rather than involving any judgement or conscious decision making.
Sometimes that pleasure is in the service of a longer term drive like a bear gaining weight so it can hibernate through the winter but the feeling of pleasure is always associated with an immediate action. The bear feels pleasure when eating salmon not because of any true inherent enjoyment of eating salmon but because it promotes the weight gain necessary for survival.
As human beings we do things that are pleasurable because we are also animals. There is nothing inherently wrong with that but unfortunately some of us stop there. They confuse the immediate fleeting positivity of pleasure for the long term, deeper state of positivity that is happiness.
An animal is not going to make a calculus of return on investment, they are only driven by their survival needs which manifest themselves as feelings of pain or pleasure.
When we act like this its because we are also only paying attention to the immediate signals we are receiving. We are not thinking of any of the long term goals we have.
We may protest and say that we are intelligent people and so smart enough to focus on the long term. But intelligence has nothing to do with taking actions that bring us long term happiness instead of actions that are driven by an immediate feeling of pleasure.
Intelligence is just a tool that humans happen to have in the same way that sharp teeth and claws are tools that a bear happens to have. It’s how we use that tool that’s important.
For a lot of people that tool is used in service of achieving immediate, animalistic pleasure. There are plenty of intelligent people who are slaves to their drives. Someone with an addiction can be really diabolical in their ingenuity for getting their next fix.
Humans may have evolved out of animals but we now exist in a higher plane. Our drives come from core survival mechanisms but our drives are not our destiny. When we move into the higher plane of existence, where art and science and satisfaction exist, where we are no longer merely surviving, that is when we achieve happiness
By focusing on the physical sensation we often forgo this much deeper and more satisfying state of happiness. The short-sightedness of pleasure can lead you down a pathway that will actually subtract from your overall happiness.
This is because often in order to get to happiness we must forgo pleasure and in fact go through pain and discomfort. We exercise because that makes us feel overall healthier in the long term. We study instead of party because that gives us the opportunity to do more complex and fulfilling things in our life.
The question is when do we need to stop? At what point does pain mean pain and not growth?
An animal cannot figure this out because an animal lives in the moment, a human who is unaware of how their core drives are manifesting themselves in feelings cannot figure this out because they are mistaking the physical feelings of pain and pleasure for their judgement of good and bad.
But an engaged human, self aware and not merely intelligent, can focus on a goal, focus on a state that they want to achieve in the future as opposed to the immediate demands of the present.
They can make the calculus that the pain which they are currently feeling is in service to a longer term goal. They can learn from their own and others’ experience and experimentation to determine when forgoing an immediate pleasure will gain them a longer term, deeper happiness.
This doesn’t mean that pleasure is inherently bad. It’s just like any other feeling we have. Feelings are not bad or good, they just are.
We have very little control over how we feel about something. If I hate exercise I will never stop feeling the pain of when I push beyond my current limit.
But what we do have control over is how we react to our feelings. When I feel pain while exercising, I can stop and go eat some ice cream, or, using my awareness of my current state, I can say I am feeling pain, but that is okay, I will continue anyway because I know this is good for me. But it starts with awareness.
We are not eliminating pain or pleasure, exercise still sucks and soaking in a hot tub afterwards feels good. But we are using our intelligence to service our sentience, our sense of self and of self-value. And we can imagine how much better we will feel or how much happier we could be and recognize that sometimes choosing the path of pain can be the way to get there.
Pleasure can be a distraction from the true pursuit of happiness. And happiness is the purpose we are all put here for. But by recognizing how and when pleasure manifests itself in our body we can turn a critical eye to the actions that it is driving us to and question whether or not they are truly leading us towards deeper fulfilled happiness.
