We all know joy and pleasure are good feelings, I mean, I think it's accurate to say that many of us prefer to feel joyful or pleasurable over depressed or melancholy any day, right? But if there is a difference, what distinguishes joy from pleasure? Which one do you prefer to feel?
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Even in biblical times, people struggled with the idea of sustenance. If you're hungry or thirsty, you would naturally satiate yourself with food and water. But have you noticed what happens shortly after? We're hungry or thirsty once again, so what do you do? Food and water.
Now a lot of people love their food, I'm one of those people. Yeah, I take a picture of most meals I eat. But what if one day we never had to eat or drink again? If someone offered you that prospect, would you accept? Now don't get me wrong, they're not mutually exclusive, you can still eat or drink if you never have to eat or drink ever again. But you don't have to. Think about that for a second.
Okay, so we've established that joy and pleasure are good feelings and emotions. We still need to figure out what's different. Well just like the hunger and thirst analogy, I believe pleasure reflects more of a fleeting moment, which does feel good, but it doesn't last long. Much like when you're hungry or thirsty, after some food or drink, you gotta eat again sooner or later.
Pleasure is imposed from without rather than within.
And as you can probably guess, joy is sustainable, it will satiate you, and though you will still go on emotional roller coasters, there's a sense of fulfilment that follows you wherever you go. You're... joyful.
They say money can't buy happiness. But the counter-argument is that only poor people say that because they're bitter. Or that if you're sad, you'd rather be a rich sad man/woman than a poor sad man/woman. That is true. I would be a happier man if my net worth suddenly quadrupled. But the question is how long would that last.
What would happen if tomorrow you were then diagnosed with a chronic illness? Your perspective completely changes, and honestly, no matter how much money you have, no matter how successful you are, you really don't care. You would give all that up in an instant just to restore your health. You really would. Even if it's not yourself who's sick. Your loved one getting that diagnosis is enough to turn your world on its head.
So what's the takeaway? Money can indeed buy happiness. Money can buy pleasure. But one thing money can't buy?
Joy
So what is the difference between joy and pleasure?
Money can only buy one of them and it doesn't last very long after purchasing it.
