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And because we do not desire one thing deeply we do not experience the authentic pleasure of anything. We buy books rather than reading them; we spend long hours on social networks rather than in long conversations; we eat cheap food quickly rather than less food, slowly. G.K. Chesterton expressed it well in his book Orthodoxy when he said, “A man is a fool who complains that he cannot enter Eden by five gates at once…Surely one might pay for extraordinary joy in ordinary morals.” Eden is a difficult pleasure; it is a pleasure that takes work and patience and time without immediate rewards. To pursue Eden our desire must be deep and strong—we must really want to be there. It requires the denial of small pleasures for deeper ones.
What we need now is radical hedonism—the pursuit of deep and difficult pleasures driven by strong desire. We should be profligate in our enjoyment of what is good and leave aside the unfulfilling amusements of an economy that stands in the way of true enjoyment. But for this pleasure we must be willing to pay what it costs, whatever it costs, even if it costs us everything we have—we have good reason to believe we will not be disappointed.]]>
Hi Ragan, we do live in a time of socially engineered cognitive dissonance. A thousand voices scream, choose me, use me, try me, buy me. We need to tune out these competing voices and make value judgments based on the small still voice.
There are times when God asks nothing of His
children except silence, patience and tears.
C. S. Robinson
Its a lesson hard fought and long learnt…..
Shalom..Carl
Hi Carl, great comment. I'll be talking to you!
“One result of the consumer economy has been a weakening of desire and a diluting of pleasure.”
I agree that there's a diluting of pleasure and I suspect that's in large part because of what Carl mentioned. There are so many things calling for our attention that we cannot enjoy one thing without being tempted away from it by several others. So we lose the pleasure in the first thing because the other things are filling us with a desire for something new already. So I agree with the part I quoted from your essay in which you said our pleasure is diluted, but I disagree that there's a weakening of desire. On the contrary, it's the constant increase of desire that fractures our ability to take pleasure in one thing at a time.
“And because we do not desire one thing deeply we do not experience the authentic pleasure of anything.”
So you're saying the one thing we should desire deeply is eden, and that's what will enable us to enjoy the rest of life? What is eden? Heaven? The new earth? The broken earth we're on now?
“What we need now is radical hedonism—the pursuit of deep and difficult pleasures driven by strong desire.”
This sounds like throwing ourselves with even more will and purpose into things and I suspect we'd still miss the pleasure. I like the Robinson quote that Carl gave. God doesn't always call us to pleasure. There are times when he calls us to deep sorrow, deep silence and deep suffering. And though those things sometimes lead to a positive end (I think of a mother in labor who ends with a child in her arms.), they don't always (as my sister-in-law found after giving birth to her still-born daughter).
“We should be profligate in our enjoyment of what is good and leave aside the unfulfilling amusements of an economy that stands in the way of true enjoyment.”
This sounds a bit like a modern version of Paul and I suspect the other things Paul mentions here might fit into what you're thinking of as the good things we should find pleasure in, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:9-13)
“One result of the consumer economy has been a weakening of desire and a diluting of pleasure.”
I agree that there's a diluting of pleasure and I suspect that's in large part because of what Carl mentioned. There are so many things calling for our attention that we cannot enjoy one thing without being tempted away from it by several others. So we lose the pleasure in the first thing because the other things are filling us with a desire for something new already. So I agree with the part I quoted from your essay in which you said our pleasure is diluted, but I disagree that there's a weakening of desire. On the contrary, it's the constant increase of desire that fractures our ability to take pleasure in one thing at a time.
“And because we do not desire one thing deeply we do not experience the authentic pleasure of anything.”
So you're saying the one thing we should desire deeply is eden, and that's what will enable us to enjoy the rest of life? What is eden? Heaven? The new earth? The broken earth we're on now?
“What we need now is radical hedonism—the pursuit of deep and difficult pleasures driven by strong desire.”
This sounds like throwing ourselves with even more will and purpose into things and I suspect we'd still miss the pleasure. I like the Robinson quote that Carl gave. God doesn't always call us to pleasure. There are times when he calls us to deep sorrow, deep silence and deep suffering. And though those things sometimes lead to a positive end (I think of a mother in labor who ends with a child in her arms.), they don't always (as my sister-in-law found after giving birth to her still-born daughter).
“We should be profligate in our enjoyment of what is good and leave aside the unfulfilling amusements of an economy that stands in the way of true enjoyment.”
This sounds a bit like a modern version of Paul and I suspect the other things Paul mentions here might fit into what you're thinking of as the good things we should find pleasure in, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:9-13)