Teaching Materials
11 Insights of Highly Successful Individuals
Teaching MaterialsInsight #11: The Greatest Pleasure
There is one experience that transcends all the others
Everyone in life is looking for pleasure. But what is really the greatest pleasure of all?
World Travelers
Let me share with you a conversation that I have had with many world travelers. Often travelers would pass through Jerusalem and stop by Aish HaTorah to see what a Yeshiva is all about. I would ask them the following question: "On your travels did you ever have this experience?
"You're walking up a mountain and as you turn a corner, you see the most magnificent view before you... a beautiful valley, a snow-capped mountain, sunset over the ocean... and you just stop in your tracks. Your mouth drops and you feel a sense of transcendence - you're uplifted by the exquisite beauty before you; you feel touched, moved by the harmony of creation... a feeling of something more than just the physical, a glimpse of the Infinite."
Every traveler would respond the same way. "Yes - I had that experience."
So then I would ask them: "Tell me - wasn't that the experience that you were really ultimately looking for on your travels?"
They would say: "Yes, that's right - but how did you know?"
I would answer: "Because that's the pleasure that we're all looking for in life - the greatest pleasure."
An Elephant
There is a famous analogy about a group of blindfolded people that was introduced to an elephant. Some felt the trunk, others the tusks, some the back, others the legs or the ears. Each described a different object. When they removed their blindfolds, they realized that they were all experiencing the same thing just from a different angle.
Many people have the experience of transcendence - a beautiful sunset; a babbling brook; birth of a baby child; the stars at night; water dripping off a lead after a storm; a raging sea with thunder and lightning - a sense of awe.
In Judaism we say that all these experiences are the same thing - different aspects of touching the Infinite - an experience of the Transcendental - of G-d.
Going to Nepal?
Judaism says that this experience is the greatest pleasure. It also says that you don't need to go to Nepal to get it (not that there's anything wrong with going to Nepal!). You can actually experience it wherever you are, every day, in two basic ways.
- Life in every detail is awesome. The human hand is a mass of electrons whizzing around a nucleus of neutrons and protons. It is mainly empty space. Billions of particles make up my hand... it's awesome! Consider the workings of a tree or the enzymes that help our stomachs work... the universe is totally awesome.
- You can also experience the transcendental directly. ]
If you see reality the way it is, you can experience the awesomeness of creation any time, anywhere.
When a person prays to the Infinite Being, he can have the feeling of experiencing infinite beauty on a mountaintop. Of course, sometimes we just rattle off the words... but that's really missing the whole point. A person can experience the Infinite all day. He just has to be aware. If a person learns how to develop a relationship with the Infinite Being, he can feel that sense of transcendence constantly.
The problem is that things like anger, jealousy, and resentment can get in the way. It's hard to feel uplifted when you're feeling resentful. That's where the Torah comes in. By developing ourselves, and perfecting our character, we are able to become someone who can lift ourselves above the pettiness of life and feel the transcendental all the time. Even in a small cramped office with e-mail and cell phones going full-pace, the transcendental experience is always right there for you to experience.
The idea is to become someone who is able to feel this pleasure from within and not have to be dependant on our external environment to be in touch with the transcendental nature of existence.
That's what Judaism is all about!
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