Teaching Materials
11 Insights of Highly Successful Individuals
Teaching MaterialsInsight #8: Comfort and Pleasure
Comfort is a cheap substitute for what you really want.
If someone asked you: "what is the opposite of pain?" What do you think most people say? Nine out of ten people say "pleasure" - right?
Well - Judaism says that to say the opposite of pain is pleasure is actually the definition of decadence!
How so?
You see, what is really the opposite of pain? No pain. So what's the feeling of no pain? (Let them come to it... it might take some guidance, but they usually agree once you explain) Comfort.
So what's the problem?
If you believe that pain and pleasure are opposites, you will work to avoid pain. But if you stay away from pain, you won't end up with pleasure. You will end up with comfort. (Society promotes comfort as the true pleasure.)
Imagine the scene; you're on a beach, lying there in the heat of the sun with a cool drink by your side. As you lie there not moving a limb or even a finger, you feel the experience of extreme comfort - so, so, comfortable... but be very careful, you might fall asleep and miss the whole experience!
Judaism says something different. Pain is actually the price you pay for pleasure. The pleasure that you get is proportional to the amount of effort that you put in.
Of Sports & Mountains
Do you play a sport? Which one? (Whichever one they say use it as the example)
So imagine you're playing tennis with someone who is really a terrible player, and you beat him 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. Then you play someone who's more your match - it's a close game, a tremendous struggle, but finally you win in 5 sets. Which one would you enjoy more? The 2nd - even though it's a lot less comfortable.
- Climbing a mountain is only worthwhile if it's a big one. Small ones - nobody climbs. Taking a helicopter to the top also just doesn't do the trick!
Anything in life that's really worthwhile -- good relationships, successful careers, the pursuit of meaning -- all of life's lasting pleasures require a lot of pain and effort to achieve. If we go after comfort, it's true we'll be rid of the passing pain. But we'll also be robbed of any type of achievement and the lasting pleasure that comes from it. If you try to get at pleasure by spending your life avoiding pain, all you'll end up with is the counterfeit: comfort. Without effort, you'll never get real pleasure.
Greatest Pain
Here's an example of how pain and pleasure are related:
What is your parents' greatest pleasure? Most probably you, their child...of course! But what is their greatest pain? Most probably you, as well!
- It's no coincidence that our greatest pleasure is also the thing that is our greatest pain. Pain, as we said, is the price we pay for pleasure. To get tremendous pleasure from life, we will only get it through tremendous effort.
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