[05/40] Pleasure and Entertainment

Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia makes mention of a concept that I found enlightening.

Entertainment and pleasure are not synonymous.

The differences are important for us to understand.

On one hand, there is entertainment.

Entertainment is defined as something that amuses, pleases, or diverts, especially a performance or show.

The "little kid" in all of us wants lots of quick amusement and diversion. We love about movies, concerts, the Internet and buying things. It feels like it will fill us and make us happy.

But the reality is that entertainment is passive and fleeting—a quick-fix that doesn't last. Then after we are left empty, we need to fill ourselves up again.

On the other hand, there is pleasure.

Pleasure is defined as the state or feeling of being pleased or gratified; a source of enjoyment or delight.

Pleasure is deeper than entertainment. There is a shift within us—we feel gratified and that sensation doesn't quickly dissipate.

I think of the difference between entertainment and pleasure as the difference between Ho Hos (or Yodels), and a healthy, balanced snack, like celery sticks with peanut butter. The snack cakes give us a quick sugar high, but they also leave us empty and wanting more. The healthy, balanced snack, while potentially less convenient, truly satisfies.

(Not that I don't like sugary snacks. I have a bunch in my office refrigerator. I’m just making a point and my other example — the difference between sex and love — seemed potentially distracting.)

Things that are pleasurable seem to be less passive than things that entertain us. Things that we take pleasure in usually are things in which we are more actively involved.

So, take a moment to think about the rest of your day and your week...

(This is especially important if you, like me, live in the "entertainment capital of the world.")

Think about the things you have ahead of you and see if you can figure out a way to have less momentary entertainment and more long-lasting pleasure and delight.

And love.


With love,


Rabbi Brian


And, if you care to, click here to see comments on the streetprophets site where this article also went up this week.

(33/40) More and Enough

Lynne Twist, in her book The Soul of Money, cautions that we in America face a perception problem with regard to quantity. She explains that we all are so bombarded with messages of "more" that we lose sight of the beauty and simplicity of the spiritual-religious concept of sufficiency.

She is right. Every day, we receive a barrage that encourages us to envision our lives as better if only we had more things.

But we don't need more. Really. We don't.

I'm not advocating that we don't need things; of course we do. I'm not arguing that the goal of a spiritually fulfilled life is that of an ascetic – characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures.

What I want you to do is to take a moment to contemplate sufficiency. Sufficiency is the idea that something is enough just how it is. Sufficiency is the notion that nothing else is needed. Sufficiency is a beautiful concept.

Contemplate, just for this moment, that you have exactly what you need. Let your mind dwell on the idea that there isn't anything additional that you require. Contemplate enoughness. Feel filled and full.

While we know, at least right in this moment, that we have enough, most of us aren't really comfortable staying in this feeling for long. The sensation of wholeness is foreign, and we find ourselves wandering from the sufficiency of the now to worrying about the future and fretting about the past. We go back to thinking about how we would feel complete if only we only had this or did that.

Here is a poem that touches on this:

• I am so blessed
• That I often
• Don’t know what to do.
• (The answer, of course, is getting quiet, letting life happen around me, enjoying life, giving thanks, and praising God. Most often, I would rather find something else to do.)

Our nationalized day to be grateful is coming up. How wonderful is that? Our society has said, “Hey, let’s have the last Thursday in November be a day of gratitude.” We have this opportunity to, as a culture, think about appreciation and sufficiency.

Let me tell you what changes the glass we see from seeming half-full to appearing half-empty: our attitude. While it might seem like a platitude, our gratitude depends on our attitude. Judaism, the tradition in which I was ordained as a rabbi, suggests that people say 100 blessings a day – it's not a bad idea. Scientists have incontrovertibly proven that the simple act of listing what we are grateful for improves the quality of one's life.

Ask yourself: What are you joyful that you can do? What are you glad that you have? What are you thankful for? Once you answer these questions, your senses of appreciation and calm should rise. (If you want, listing more things for which you are thankful.)

Making a gratitude list is a wonderful thing to do – it reminds you of what (and who) you have, as opposed to what (and who) you lack. Moreover, the attitude of gratitude is contagious and said to attract good things.

When we have gratitude for what we have, we start to see glimpses of sufficiency. When we experience feelings of sufficiency, we feel like we belong in this world exactly as we are. Gratitude is, in effect, saying "Thank you, world." And, when you express your thanks to the universe, you give God and the universe the opportunity to say to you, "You are welcome."

How beautiful! We are welcome in this world. We belong – exactly as we are.

I pray that each of us, especially during this season of holy days, remembers to express gratitude. I pray that we realize that we don't need to compulsively fill ourselves with more. I pray that we realize that we are welcome, that we belong, that we are sufficient.

With love,


Rabbi Brian

And, if you care to, click here to see comments on the streetprophets site where this article also went up this week.