a question that is crucial to understanding, if we want to succeed in life.
there are two kinds of pleasure.
1) Short-term pleasure which often leads to unpleasure in the long run. This is the kind that one often “submits” to, by choice. Be it smoking a cigarette, taking a shot of heroin, eating a cheeseburger, energy leeching relationships, angry thoughts, etc.
2) Long term (or ultimate) pleasure is something that only a very few will experience during one’s lifetime. The pursuit of this pleasure might require some actions that may not seem so pleasurable to begin with e.g. starting an exercise regimen, overcoming addictive/destructive habits, quitting a job, ending a relationship, moving, etc.
Again, those in the first category stop being pleasures at some point as soon as the “kick” wears off. The pleasures associated with the quick-fix mentality is mostly illusionary. Those evil demons inside our minds (otherwise known as ego) try to control us, knowing that if we get control of them, they seize to exist. In the end, if it is not good for us, for others around us, or for the greater good (in the long term sense) = don’t do it. Simple rule.
The ultimate pleasure is supreme health and fitness because when our minds and bodies are working optimally, we are free, we are powerful and we feel most at home on this beautiful planet. Once we understand our place in this universe, the great gift of inner peace and mental strength (weapons of mass creation = WMC) can be fully received.
There is a deep logic to this idea of ultimate pleasure that rings true once enough clutter has been removed from our often poisoned minds. This pursuit may seem like a lonely dark road to begin with. But once the mountain is climbed and the top reached, the view will surely be nothing short of astounding (if just for the rarity of such a sight); an empowering thought which can perhaps help ease that initial darkness and loneliness we might be accompanied with. A few great humans have took this path and have not been forgotten.
Even if we never get to the top of that mountain there can be no doubt that the “pleasures” which that journey itself may bring e.g. meeting amazing people, mastery of self, developing a “killer” intellect, etc. will make everything worth the small price of commitment we initially pay to get on the path of ultimate pleasure.
Perhaps this could all be summed up in one phrase: to think of pleasure, not as a moment, but as life itself.