Exploration of pleasure and feeling good

Here is a deep and curious exploration that goes right to the core of our quest for happiness:

What is pleasure?

We may begin with the simple things - eating an orange, a fried egg, some toast. Things taste nice. We stroke our cheek, run a nail across our lips - things feel nice. Perhaps we become aware of a little release of niceness - some endorphins or oxytocin or dopamine, feel good brain chemicals. But still we wonder:

Why do they feel nice?

We might realise that 'nice' is a label that we assign to a particular sense experience - there is nothing intrinsically nice about the sense contact. We might realise that pain and pleasure are quite similar as sense contacts. It does not end there. The thought of a nice experience can become self sustaining - something pleasureable or satisfying. We can saturate ourselves in this chemical wash of satisfaction, but these are just labels we attach to physical experiences. There is just sublime contentment. We are not longer seeking pleasure, we are satisfied - our quest is complete (for the time being). This brings relief and a sense of freedom. We are perfectly happy just the way we are.

This didn't come out quite the way I expected. What I wanted to say was that there is no end to exploration of pleasure - it leads us into the very core of our selves. We see how we are slaves to an invisible master, but it does not need to be like this. We see it and we take heed.

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