Pleasure Does Not Lead To Satisfaction

The average person spends the majority of his life seeking pleasure. There is nothing wrong with this.

The average person rarely tastes true satisfaction. There is nothing wrong with this either.

The problem is that man seeks pleasure as a means to finding satisfaction. This will never work.

Because people do not live contented lives, they naturally seek contentment. Only they do not realize this is what they are truly seeking.

So they chase one pleasure after another, for the better part of a century.

When a person has an experience, the mind reacts in a particular way. The way that the mind reacts is due in large part to the way that it has been conditioned.

A mind that has developed an acquisitive or materialistic nature will feel compelled to seek pleasure.

When a person with such a mind finds himself in an enjoyable situation, his mind will fixate on it.

This creates an emotional high in the human being. People often get carried away with it.

Afterwards, his mind will fixate on repeating the experience. As a result, he loses the capacity to enjoy his life as it is.

His life begins to revolve around pleasure.

The difference between pleasure and satisfaction is that satisfaction happens in the absence of fixation. Satisfaction happens in the absence of craving and hope.

Satisfaction comes from emptiness of mind.

A person who experiences satisfaction does not feel compelled to repeat the experience in an acquisitive way, for he sees that his acquisitiveness will prevent satisfaction from finding him.

Such a person naturally begins to lose interest in seeking pleasure. But he does not become averse to pleasurable experiences. That would also be a form of pleasure-seeking.

A satisfied person takes life as it comes. They naturally opt for things that make their life more enjoyable, as any sane person would, but they do not crave or fixate. They do not lament under any circumstances.

I understand the compulsion, but please do not fall victim to asking the question, “How do I find satisfaction?”

This question is a search for pleasure. Unless you see that, you will never move past it.

Satisfaction is your natural state. Pleasure seeking is not.

When you move beyond your habitual search for pleasure, satisfaction becomes your default.