Before Wheatstone, I came across something that I found very interesting in a book, I believe it was Knowing Scripture by RC Sproul, where he made a distinction between pleasure and happiness. Happiness is satisfaction; "Because a thankful heart is a happy heart...", while it is possible to be pleased and yet not satisfied, for example, if a person finds pleasure in things of this world, such as gorging himself, getting power, looking good to others, gaining knowledge, or in evil, he will periodically have temporary pleasure, but he will never find satisfaction in such things, and thus will never attain happiness.
In one of his lectures, Dr. Reynolds said something that identified pleasure with happiness. I tried to tell him about what I wrote in the paragraph above, but I'm not sure I ever got far enough, so before I make any statements concerning his view or anything like that, I'll try to email him a link to this blog.
Meanwhile, I will hypothesize that by JMR's definitions, pleasure is a component of happiness, not exactly the same thing.
Please post comments to make this a discussion, citing memories and notes from Wheatstone, things you've read, and things you've heard elsewhere. (And please make sure you include not only a statement on this topic, but also where you got it and what you think of it).
Another note - Please start posting and commenting to start and continue discussions!
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1 comment:
This reminds me of a brief discussion we had during small group about love. I don't remember how it came about, but we were talking about the different aspects of love. It came up that a couple can "fall in and out of love" with each other during their relationship. But, at the same time, they never stop loving the other person.
I think that this somehow corresponds to pleasure and happiness. Maybe like the "passion" of a relationship comes and goes, but the love is always there, pleasure is fleeting, but happiness is permanent and satisfying.
Moreover, as there can be passion without love, there can also be pleasure without happiness.
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