Choose Enjoyment Over Pleasure
Pleasure is addictive and animal; enjoyment is elective and human.
“How to Build a Life” is a weekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness. Click here to listen to his podcast series on all things happiness, How to Build a Happy Life.
In Greek mythology, Eros and Psyche gave birth to a daughter named Hedone. A daemon, or minor deity, she has no myths attached to her, but is known for her one gift to humankind: pleasure. Her gift, however, was also a curse. In Rome, where Hedone was called Voluptas, the statesman and philosopher Cicero saw her deification as “vicious and unnatural,” insofar as she “overpowers natural instinct.”
That’s not so far
