KEEP THE OLD WARM

“The gentleman cherishes virtue, but the small man cherishes the soil…” – 夫子 Master Kong (Confucius) The Analects 4:11

Do we reach for the high? Or do we reach for the low?

The less connection we feel to others, the surrounding world, and ourselves, the easier we will fall to temptations of a lower nature.

Pleasure can be gained from many sources: food, water, shelter, drugs, achievement, sex, hate, love, entertainment, shopping, sloth, sports, even depression can intoxicate.

While pleasure can come from good and bad sources, it is the “hangover” or lack thereof, that helps us judge pleasures.

If we win a sports game, no pleasure hangover. If we smoke crack, terrible hangover. If we spend time in nature, no hangover. If we spend the day in bed watching TV, lethargic hangover.

Another way to judge pleasures is determine how much time and effort it takes us to get them. If we buy cheap, delicious cookies and eat them, nearly immediate pleasure. If we start a business, it will take us time and great effort. If we sit around and do nothing, it costs us zero time and effort. If we hike a mountain for breathtaking views, a lot of time and effort.

We place our pleasures on a scale. Are they quick and easy? Or do they demand patience and effort? Do they leave us feeling worst, or better?

True pleasures in life are those that require time and effort and leave us feeling better.

Lower pleasures are those that are quick and easy and leave us feeling worse.

Part of us will always be tempted by the quick and easy, and we will happily pay the price later.

Part of us will always feel a calling to the slow and difficult, paying the price now, for a greater reward later.

In 2024, we are facing more quick, easy, and subtly poisoning pleasures thatn before: Phones, social media, food delivery, sophisticated entertainment, eCommerce, drugs and alcohol, parties, gorgeous people….we are hit with dopamine doses all day, enticing us to choose lower pleasures over higher at every moment.

The more we indulge in the low, the uglier and heavier in soul we become. Yet, all the more beautiful, lighter, and inspiring the high will appear, and hopefully, be. Cherish virtue, and do not be bogged down in the soil.

Place our pleasures on a scale and weigh our options.

We pay now, or pay later.

We must choose our pleasures wisely.