The Compass of Pleasure

I am always tickled when a new pattern starts to occur in my daily life. A though or a concept seems to get underlined in everyday conversation, and I start to pay attention like a star student in a classroom. I went to my friend Diana's housewarming party on Saturday night and met lovely people amid bubbly glasses of champagne, homemade meatballs and ziti, a fantastic 20 pound turkey from Prime Meats, and more cakes, cookies, tarts and pastries than you can shake a stick at. I got into a wonderfully intense conversation with one of the party goers who said to me, "It is our obligation to follow our pleasure. That is where the answer to all questions can be found."

I loved this idea. I was so struck by it that I was tossing it over in my mind as I lay in bed long after the party ended.

At the Rubin Museum of Art tonight, I attended a curated discussion between chocolatier Jacques Torres (who could not have been more charming and entertaining!) and David Linden, the author of The Compass of Pleasure which explored the ways that pleasure is processed in the brain. Linden said that the pleasure response in the mind causes the same reaction to our vices (eating fatty foods, drugs, alcohol) as it does to our virtues (exercising, giving to charity.) The mere anticipation of pleasurable experience is enough to set off our pleasure response as well. (To illustrate the point, we were given two pieces of chocolate from Jacques Torres to see what our response was to different blends. I can assure you that as the plates of sweet yummies were being passed, the anticipatory energy was downright palpable.)

Linden also said, which I found fascinating, that the pleasure response can also be activated by our denial of pleasure or our abstinence of pleasurable activities. He said that this may be how some of the ancient Buddhists found their path to enlightenment. I think of Siddhartha who had every sort of earthly pleasure imaginable, but it was only until he cast it all aside that he could find his true rapture, and his true nature.

The last question of the evening was "Why is the title of the lecture 'The Compass of Pleasure?'" Is it truly our pleasure that should be the measure of our direction? Will pleasure show us our true north?"

I loved this question, mostly because I would like to think that our innate pleasures constitute the deepest expression of the soul, and that if one follows one's bliss, then one can never be led astray. The only way everything can be all right, is if we answer yes to the questions our souls ask.

This weekend was filled with pleasures. Parties, friends, challenging yoga, overindulged eating, and the sweet anticipation of my trip to Morocco. And to top it off, I came across this quote to boot: Johann Wolfgang Goethe said, "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love."

I get it Universe. I'm listening. I'm underlining pleasure in red Sharpie.