The 5 Levels of Pleasure

Every person in this world is seeking pleasure. It is what motivates us. The problem is not that people seek pleasure. The Almighty created the world for our pleasure. The problem is that people are not aware that there is an hierarchy of pleasures and that there are counterfeit pleasures.

We often settle for lower levels of pleasures because we are not aware of what pleasure truly is or the higher levels of pleasures. It's kind of like going into an ice cream store and ordering plain vanilla every time because one never heard of a Banana Split -- three types of ice cream, two different coverings (hot fudge or caramel), whipping cream, sprinkles and ... a cherry on top.

Like all intelligent discussions, we must first start with a definition. Pleasure is the energy one derives from something that helps him have the power to grow, improve. There are different levels of pleasure -- each defined by its own currency (what it takes to acquire the pleasure) and each with its own counterfeits. There is no exchange rate between levels of pleasure.

If you ask a person, "What is the opposite of pain?" he usually responds, "Pleasure." Wrong! The opposite of pain is absence of pain -- or comfort. To equate comfort with pleasure is the definition of decadence.

Pain is the price one pays for pleasure. Whatever you have that you value, you value it more according to the effort, the trials and tribulations, the pain to acquire it. A "self-made" millionaire enjoys his money and values it more than the individual who inherits wealth. To succeed in the pursuit of pleasure, you have to focus on the goal and the pleasure of the effort you make to achieve it.

So, what are the Levels of Pleasure?

• FIFTH CLASS PLEASURE -- physical and material pleasure. Good food, nice clothes, comfortable home, pleasant music, beautiful scenery. This includes anything that involves the "five senses."
• FOURTH CLASS PLEASURE -- Love. No amount of 5th class pleasure can buy even one unit of love. Would you accept 25 million dollars in exchange for one of your children? People will sell everything they own and go into debt to save the life of a child. They'll give up all 5th Level Pleasures for 4th Level Pleasure.
• THIRD CLASS PLEASURE -- being good and finding meaning. A person who is willing to give up everything he owns for 4th class pleasure will forego the pleasure of his family -- for a cause. In W.W.II people lied their way into the army knowing they were leaving their family for years and even possibly dying. Why? To save the world for humanity. To destroy the evil scourge. To make a difference in the world.

If you don't know what you are willing to die for, then you haven't begun to live. Otherwise, you are merely playing a game. If you don't have meaning in your life, then all the physical enjoyments, the beautiful vacations and even the wonderful spouse and children, won't prevent you from feeling that something is missing.

• SECOND CLASS PLEASURE -- the power of creativity, of perfecting the world, through wisdom, into an utopia. It's the pleasure of being aware of how much more there is to life.

Why is creativity such a thrill? Because it touches the essence of God. The ultimate expression of creativity was God's creation of the world. He made something from absolutely nothing. Only an Infinite Being can do that. Expressing our own creativity is a taste of that power.

• FIRST CLASS PLEASURE -- No human being is totally satisfied unless s/he's in touch with the Transcendental Dimension. When all is said and done, what we each seek is to reach out of this finite world and connect with the Infinite. To become one with God.

Awe is the experience of merging our small, relatively insignificant selves with something much greater. We break beyond our own limitations and connect in unity with God. First class pleasure is incomparable to any other experience. Nothing finite, nothing bound up in this world, can compare to the Infinite.

In order to connect with God, you have to learn to appreciate all the good that He has done for you. That means giving up the illusion that you alone are responsible for your achievements. It's all a gift from God. If you make the effort to appreciate the gifts God has bestowed upon you, then you'll have such a keen awareness of God's presence that everything you do is accompanied by a sense of His love and guidance. You'll be overwhelmed above and beyond any other pleasure possible.

There is much more to say about acquiring pleasure in life. Go www.aish.com, and in the Search box, type "pleasure." Check out "5 Levels of Pleasure" by Rabbi Noah Weinberg from which this article is based upon and parts excerpted from.

Short Summary of the Torah Portion of the Week - Vayeira

Abraham, on the third day after his brit mila (circumcision), sits outside his tent looking for guests to extend his hospitality. While talking with the Almighty, he sees three visitors (actually angels of the Almighty). Avraham interrupts his conversation with the Almighty to invite them to a meal. One angel informs him that in a year's time, Sarah, his wife, will give birth to a son, Yitzhak (Isaac).

God tells Avraham that He is going to destroy Sodom because of its absolute evil (the city is the source of the word "sodomy"). Avraham argues with God to spare Sodom if there can be found ten righteous people in Sodom. Avraham loses for the lack of a quorum. Lot (Avraham's nephew) escapes the destruction with his two daughters.

Other incidents: Avimelech, King of the Philistines, wants to marry Sarah (Avraham's wife). The birth of Yitzhak. The eviction of Hagar (Avraham's concubine) and Ishmael. Avimelech and Avraham make a treaty at Beersheva. Avraham is commanded to take up his son, Isaac, as an offering "on one of the mountains" (Akeidat Yitzhak). Lastly, the announcement of the birth of Rivka (Rebecca), the future wife of Yitzhak.

Do you want to know the reward for listening to the command of the Almighty? This is what the Almighty told Avraham: "... I shall surely bless you and greatly increase your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your offspring shall inherit the gate of its enemy. And all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your offspring, because you have listened to My voice."

Dvar Torah, "The Pleasure of Giving" by Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt

You are traveling in the desert with two friends. It's a boiling hot day. You see some tents in the distance, seemingly a Bedouin camp. Suddenly, running crazily towards you, a 99-year-old man appears. He dives at your feet, face in the sand, and implores, "Please my masters, if I have found favor in your eyes, do not pass by the tent of your humble slave. Stay a while. I will personally wash your feet and provide food. Sit in the shade of my tree - and afterwards you may go."

Try to picture it for a minute: What would you think?

Most people would be concerned that this is some sort of psychopath who plans to chop them into little pieces and bury them under his floorboards. At the very least, there must be a catch, something in it for him. After all, nobody in this world does something for nothing. Does he?

I doubt that many would take Abraham up on his offer.

It says a great deal about the society in which we live, that when someone wants to do something for us, we are suspicious. Why would someone want to do something for me if there was no gain for him? And most of the time, we are correct. It's a terrible shame, though, that we need to be so wary. After all, which should be the anomaly: a person who cares about others and gives to them selflessly, or a society that is suspicious of such a person?

Abraham was the person in Jewish history who, above all else, exemplified chesed - kindness. It was not strange for Abraham to run to potential guests and beg them to partake of his generosity. He loved humanity and, above all else, his mission in life was to make people happy. There are few deeper pleasures than of giving to others, and Abraham knew that well. Every one of us enjoys giving much more than taking. Giving expands and satisfies us. Taking leaves us ultimately feeling empty. That's why parents usually get more pleasure from their children, than children do from their parents - even though the children 'receive' much more.

So why do we not give as much as we could?

We are misled into believing that by giving, we somehow lose out. If I give to someone else, there is surely less for me. It's true, but only in the short term. In the long term, giving gives us back so much more than we gave. Abraham understood this and his life was about giving. We, as his spiritual heirs, have the same trait within us. Giving does make us happy. If we would keep reminding ourselves of this, we could find a lot more happiness.

Most people, having won the lottery, would be in a hurry to bank the check. Abraham was in a hurry to bank his check also. But while a lottery win is finite, the pleasure to which Abraham ran was eternal and unlimited.