Pleasure and Pain

It is a mistake to believe that the pursuit of pleasure will lead to happiness. Pleasure is ephemeral and overindulgence quickly leads to satiety.

But even more important to our understanding of what road leads to happiness is the realization that pleasure has a stronger sister--pain. And pain trumps pleasure.

How many people claim to be happy when they are in pain?

Since pain is unavoidable in life, the road to happiness does not lead to pleasure, but rather to the perception of meaning. It is only when we perceive our lives as meaningful that we can accept the transient dance of pleasure and pain.

In truth, the road itself is meaning. It is the ground of existence that is essentially meaningful. To make this discovery is to find true happiness.

Alcoholism

Alcohol releases the intellectual brakes on behavior. We need the emergency brake of meaning if we are to avoid a car crash.

It is the existential vacuum, the feeling that our lives are meaningless, that opens the door to alcohol and drug abuse.