The human
structure is a most amazing and complex structure carrying within it several
dimensions and layers of faculties that tend to play a role in human choice
making. Looking inward, the human being
carries four faculties: memory, identity,
intelligence and the mind. Each of these
faculties has three layers – the deepest layer is the primordial layer, the
intermediate layer is the natural pure layer and the outermost layer is the
artificial man made layer. Of the four
faculties memory and identity assume different colours depending on the layer
we access. The intelligence is the inner
discretionary faculty that lends a steadiness to one’s bearing and the mind is
the wavering nature that is dualistic in character and is connected to the
outward senses. Thus the mind is the
first interface between what the senses perceive on the outside and what we
understand on the inside.
When the
mind is wedded to the senses, it is drawn by sensory experiences. Pleasurable sensory experiences give a
temporary high; but when the experience recedes, it naturally leads to a mental
low. These highs and lows are a
characteristic property of the mind – part of its nature of duality. In going through these highs and lows, a
momentum is generated and lost alternately.
The loss makes our mind look for the same sensory input in search of an experience
of the same high again. These cycles of
highs and lows lead one to repetitive and addictive behaviours leading the human
being through a downward spiral of failing control over one’s own actions and
indeed towards a gradual detriment of one’s physical and mental health. Therefore it is a strange but true fact that
sensory pleasure is the doorway to pain.
Its attraction draws the mind away from inner stability into the wayward
world of sensory experience and under the guise of the fruit from the garden of
eden serves what eventually proves to be poisonous.
When the
mind is wedded to intelligence, one considers all the options available without
a strong bias towards pleasure. This
consideration of all options available without any prejudice is the hallmark of
the discretionary capability of the intelligence faculty. Therefore while an outward mind leads one
towards pleasure, an inward mind leads one towards intelligent action.
So should
we never have pleasure in our lives?
Should we never enjoy life? Obviously
the human being is always searching for happiness and no one can deny that true
and unchanging happiness is what all of us seek one way or the other. I define pleasure therefore as being a
certain elevation of mood connected invariably to something that pampers one or
more senses – through sight, smell, fragrance, taste or touch. This pleasure is different from
happiness. The gratification arising
from pleasure is not a deep sense of gratification that frees us from desire;
it is an artificial gratification that returns us to the same desire again and
again. In fact this is the test to know
whether what you are experiencing is pleasure or happiness. If after a positive experience, you never
experience a desire to go through the same thing again, then what you derived
from such an experience can be called happiness. If after a seemingly enjoyable experience,
you feel a repeated desire for the same thing, then the experience you went
through is not happiness but ‘pleasure’.
Pleasure
comes from our animal and sensory past whilst happiness comes from our universal
inner nature. Pleasure has to be sought
after and found in the outer world of the senses, while happiness is always
available as an inner state. Pleasure is
the doorway to pain while happiness is the doorway to freedom. It is a strange and intriguing fact that it
seems that human beings are equipped to seek both outwardly pleasure and inner
happiness. A man bound by his senses
seek the former, while the intelligent man seeks the latter. The choice is entirely in our hands and true
education is what enables us to make the wise choice.
Published in the New Indian Express; Nov 13,2014, Bangalore Ed.
