Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Advertisers can make us think anything is good by associating it with something else that is good: i.e., a certain brand of lemonade seems "good" because in the commercial it is associated with spacious wraparound porches, rocking chairs, sunsets, cool breezes, and family togetherness. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, a deodorant is "good" because in the commercial it is associated with well-dressed women with shiny hair. There are so many ads, I start to feel immune, but I'm probably not.

There's nothing wrong with wraparound porches or great clothes; they can be beautiful, refreshing, and promote positive social interaction. Advertisers may not be appealing to this aspect, however; they are more than likely appealing to a gut-level physical desire for pleasure.

The same tactics are used to make other kinds of pitches, too, like a commercial I saw for a technical school, and another I saw for a birth-control device.

Physical comfort is, obviously, pleasurable. It's good; I'm not saying it isn't.

I am saying that there are things in life even better, but their appeal is felt on a level beyond the physical or visceral.

In Desiring God, John Piper tries to meet our pleasure-seeking culture on its own terms, and show that God is the most desirable, most wonderful thing there is. I read this book eight years ago and have not been the same sense, nor have my senses been the same. Reading it, I have learned how to love and value things I used to think were stodgy and dry just because they did not immediately result in my physical pleasure. Life has been better.

One way of putting this is to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, who contrasted joy with pleasure. In the absence of joy, there is physical pleasure, which fades, while joy last longer and is actually spiritually sustaining.

Can I find joy in lemonade? I can now, realizing that it is a gift of God, but the desire for more is under control because I know there's something better. To paraphrase Lewis again, when the greater love comes, the little loves can stay. They know their place, and should they forgot, the greater love will not be ignored.