[recycled material - first appeared here]

It seems to me that much of human existence is about chasing pleasure. Or at least relative pleasure: moving away from unpleasant experiences toward more pleasant. Bored at your desk? Have another cup of coffee. Listen to some music. Home life not stimulating enough? Maybe a top-shelf home entertainment system will bring you greater pleasure. Etc.

As regular readers might guess, a recent news release of the science kind got me thinking about pleasure. Here’s the lead:

Many cancer patients in Europe are being denied access to adequate pain relief because of over-zealous regulations restricting the availability and accessibility of opioid-based drugs such as morphine. [source]

It additionally seems to me that many people have a biased view of pleasure, including relative pleasure (moving away from suffering), and when and how it’s okay to pursue it. For example: the mildly depressed upper-class guy who buys a powerful jet ski and spends an afternoon thrill-seeking before retiring to a bar veranda for a couple cold cocktails — perfectly acceptable. The dude in the depths of the slums taking drugs and consorting with his pals in an abandoned building — not okay.

Certainly, it’s not a simple issue. And in a well-functioning society we do need shared values. But black and white thinking about drugs, or jet skis, for that matter, is just not very enlightened. And in my estimation, not very humane, either.

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Update: Of course, an important element to this issue is the possibility of abuse and addiction.  At least for most people.  For cancer patients in pain — its importance diminishes dramatically.  In some cases, to zero.

We live in a complex universe. One of the implications of this is that there can be many ways to interact with ‘things.’ Roses and blooming cacti are but extreme examples. Interact one way and “Ahhhhh!” Another way — “Ouch!”

Human beings are even more complex. I try to remind myself of it in the wake of a social “ouch.” With limited success.

Today’s cartoons brought to you by JesusandMo.net [click to enlarge]

Must we tolerate forms of intolerance and prejudice said to be sacred?

Why, I wondered, hadn’t that god provided for the guy in the torn jacket at the highway off-ramp holding the cardboard sign, “WiLL WorK for fooD”? You can’t say, Well, he isn’t a Christian and/or doesn’t pray, because, if my memory serves me, this same guy has stood on Main Street in a town adjacent to ours with another sign about the coming apocalypse.

People tend to resort to religion and magical thinking when confronted by uncertainty. No one says, “Gee, the gas gauge is on empty. I need gas, but I don’t know where a station is. No worry, my god will provide for me.” Nor, in our day of amply stocked supermarkets do people say, “Gee, we need food. No worry, our god will provide for us.” They drive to the local market.

Isn’t it obviously self-centered and perhaps even arrogant for this woman to believe that a god would bother to give her daughter a specific type of job while neglecting the prayers of many, many others suffering from abject p0verty and disease?

I wonder how many Christian there would be in the world today if their creed stated that praying to Jesus or “the Father” was an act of insubordination, punishable by a plague to one’s town, and that heaven was out of the question. You live, you die, but believe anyway.

With a benefits package like that, my guess is, “quite a few less.”