Pleasure
Seekers: What’s the Difference between man and animals?
Confession: I’m a pleasure seeker. From those of you who
know me, I can already see you snickering and saying, “tell me something I
don’t know lawlz :))))))” But forealz. Fundamental to my pursuit of God is His all-conquering-beauty. That is, I
pursue God because He is lovely. I
take up the Lord Jesus Christ on his offer of satisfaction and eternal joy
(John 6). I say heartily with Paul that “if the dead are not raised, let us eat
drink and be merry…why am I in danger if the dead are not raised?” (1
Corinthians 15). With the apostle, I say “I suffer the loss of all things, that I might gain Christ.” (Philippians
3) In other words, my Christian life is done on the basis of the gain of
eternal joy in God (see my previous post); or better yet, the eternal joy of
gaining Christ forever. A beloved professor of mine asked me earlier this year
in response to my pleasure seeking: if the pursuit of pleasure drives both man
and animal, then what’s the significant difference? How does having the image
of God actually distinguish us from the animals?
I have argued earlier that the image of God is the role that God gives us to image Him into the world (I’ll post a link on this at the bottom for those of y’all interested). Then, to answer this question, I want to ask: how does God’s pursuit of His own pleasure look different than the non-image bearing animals’ pursuit of their pleasure?
God’s pursuit of His pleasure
Psalm 135:6 says that the Lord does whatever pleases Him. In Isaiah 46:10, the Lord declares “my counsel shall stand. I will accomplish all my pleasure.” “Our God is in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases.” (Psalm 115:3) “God works all things in accord with the council of His will.” (Ephesians 1:11-and “thelo”, the Greek verb for “will”, is also translated “want”) God’s pursuit of pleasure can be none other than the pursuit of pleasure in Himself. He preserves Israel for His name’s sake (Isaiah 48:9-10). He works all things to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1). All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him. God rescued Israel that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth (Romans 9:17). Indeed, if God is the kind of God who is the source and origin of all good, and is committed to the highest good, then this is how we would expect Him to be. For if God’s Being is the source and origin of all good, and thus the paradigm of goodness, God Himself would be Perfect Goodness. And if God desires to exalt and display Perfect Goodness in all of His actions, then He must exalt and display Himself.
The Trinitarian Dance
The Son of God, the Logos and Lord of all, is called “the radiance of God’s glory” (Hebrews 1:3). The glory of God shines bright in the face of Jesus Christ-in fact, the glory of Christ is the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4). Hence, the Father’s delight in the Son is His delight in the full luminescence of His glory. His delight in the Spirit is His delight in the outworking of His eternal moral perfections into the hearts of His people and humanity at large. Thus, if God is defined by His passion for His glory, and His delight in all that He is expressed in Father, Spirit, Son, then human beings must image God by exemplifying that same passion. For we are designed to show forth the character of God; and God’s God-centeredness is at the very heart of God’s character. We are called to participate in the Trinitarian dance of God’s delight in Himself by the Spirit, through the Son, offering worship and praise forever to the Father. We are to see the beauty of the Divine glory, shared fully by Father, Spirit, Son, communicated eternally through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. So then, we arrive at our first difference: the pleasure seeking of man ought to be a pursuit of passion for the exaltation of God. Animals display God’s character in some measure through their enjoyment of His creation, and through being vessels by which God displays the majesty of His mind and the tenderness of His provision. Animals are not designed to proclaim God’s excellences in the same way we are. We communicate God’s wise stewardship over creation. We are vice regents, as it were, carrying out the faithful love and provision of God. Animals display God’s tender care in some of their traits, and yet also in the way they are cared for by God and man, and by God through man. Whereas animals clearly cannot worship God by vocally declaring how wonderful He is, mankind can and ought to. So there is a difference between the pleasure seeking in terms of orientation. That is to say, the pleasure of man is oriented around communicate God’s care and stewardship, whereas the pleasure of animals is largely instinct based, and are oriented around enjoying creation without explicit praise of God (though they serve as praises to God in other ways).
I have argued earlier that the image of God is the role that God gives us to image Him into the world (I’ll post a link on this at the bottom for those of y’all interested). Then, to answer this question, I want to ask: how does God’s pursuit of His own pleasure look different than the non-image bearing animals’ pursuit of their pleasure?
God’s pursuit of His pleasure
Psalm 135:6 says that the Lord does whatever pleases Him. In Isaiah 46:10, the Lord declares “my counsel shall stand. I will accomplish all my pleasure.” “Our God is in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases.” (Psalm 115:3) “God works all things in accord with the council of His will.” (Ephesians 1:11-and “thelo”, the Greek verb for “will”, is also translated “want”) God’s pursuit of pleasure can be none other than the pursuit of pleasure in Himself. He preserves Israel for His name’s sake (Isaiah 48:9-10). He works all things to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1). All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him. God rescued Israel that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth (Romans 9:17). Indeed, if God is the kind of God who is the source and origin of all good, and is committed to the highest good, then this is how we would expect Him to be. For if God’s Being is the source and origin of all good, and thus the paradigm of goodness, God Himself would be Perfect Goodness. And if God desires to exalt and display Perfect Goodness in all of His actions, then He must exalt and display Himself.
The Trinitarian Dance
The Son of God, the Logos and Lord of all, is called “the radiance of God’s glory” (Hebrews 1:3). The glory of God shines bright in the face of Jesus Christ-in fact, the glory of Christ is the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4). Hence, the Father’s delight in the Son is His delight in the full luminescence of His glory. His delight in the Spirit is His delight in the outworking of His eternal moral perfections into the hearts of His people and humanity at large. Thus, if God is defined by His passion for His glory, and His delight in all that He is expressed in Father, Spirit, Son, then human beings must image God by exemplifying that same passion. For we are designed to show forth the character of God; and God’s God-centeredness is at the very heart of God’s character. We are called to participate in the Trinitarian dance of God’s delight in Himself by the Spirit, through the Son, offering worship and praise forever to the Father. We are to see the beauty of the Divine glory, shared fully by Father, Spirit, Son, communicated eternally through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. So then, we arrive at our first difference: the pleasure seeking of man ought to be a pursuit of passion for the exaltation of God. Animals display God’s character in some measure through their enjoyment of His creation, and through being vessels by which God displays the majesty of His mind and the tenderness of His provision. Animals are not designed to proclaim God’s excellences in the same way we are. We communicate God’s wise stewardship over creation. We are vice regents, as it were, carrying out the faithful love and provision of God. Animals display God’s tender care in some of their traits, and yet also in the way they are cared for by God and man, and by God through man. Whereas animals clearly cannot worship God by vocally declaring how wonderful He is, mankind can and ought to. So there is a difference between the pleasure seeking in terms of orientation. That is to say, the pleasure of man is oriented around communicate God’s care and stewardship, whereas the pleasure of animals is largely instinct based, and are oriented around enjoying creation without explicit praise of God (though they serve as praises to God in other ways).
Setting
the Stage
Yet there is another difference I want to touch on. It’s not merely that the orientation of the pleasures in man and animal are different. Even the way in which we delight in things differs significantly. When we use the terms “animalistic”, society tends to think in terms of instinct. Animal pleasure is largely instinct driven-a desire to satisfy some need or momentary physical “itch” as it were. Instinct-driven pleasure often focuses on a psychological state of well-being, and not the object from which that psychological state derives itself. That is, instinct driven-pleasure focuses on a feeling in and of itself. Or put in other terms, it focuses on a feeling that does not drive one out of oneself and into another, but rather is internal and inward focused. This is important to keep in mind as we consider two types of pleasures.
Yet there is another difference I want to touch on. It’s not merely that the orientation of the pleasures in man and animal are different. Even the way in which we delight in things differs significantly. When we use the terms “animalistic”, society tends to think in terms of instinct. Animal pleasure is largely instinct driven-a desire to satisfy some need or momentary physical “itch” as it were. Instinct-driven pleasure often focuses on a psychological state of well-being, and not the object from which that psychological state derives itself. That is, instinct driven-pleasure focuses on a feeling in and of itself. Or put in other terms, it focuses on a feeling that does not drive one out of oneself and into another, but rather is internal and inward focused. This is important to keep in mind as we consider two types of pleasures.
Two
kinds of pleasures
There seem to me to be two kinds of pleasures. When someone gives me a shoulder-massage, the pleasure is the kind of feeling I get from it. In other words, it is a feeling that is the proper end of the massage. Thus, the first kind of pleasure is a pursuit of a psychological state of delight in and of itself. Yet, we all know that there is another kind of joy. When I look at Niagara Falls, or the Grand Canyon, or a starry sky, or when I sit out on Blanchard lawn at Wheaton College and absorb the coolness of the wind, feel the heat of the sun’s warmth, cherish the music of the birds’ chorus, there emerges a very different kind of delight. The delight I have in a starry night sky isn’t simply delight I get from the sky; rather, it is delight in the sky. It’s not merely a good feeling in and of itself, like the feeling of scratching an itch. It’s a type of feeling oriented around an object.
If I were to look at the night sky, feel in my heart a rising joy in the glory hanging over me—and then proceed to contemplate the joy itself, that would kill the joy in me. As CS Lewis once pointed out, this is true of many emotions. Take hope. If I were to find hope in the promise of God’s coming kingdom on earth as in heaven, and then proceed to take my thoughts off the coming of the kingdom and onto the state of consciousness I am in when I hope in God, that kills the hope. The content of the hope is the coming of the kingdom. Hence, my pursuit of hope is my pursuit of right thinking and feeling about God’s kingdom. It’s the difference between merely feeling, and feeling about something. Yet, it cannot be said that I look at the night sky, with joy being a necessary by-product. I do not look at the sky out of some sense of obligation, even if I knew that the obligation would be pleasurable. No, I look at the night sky because it is lovely. I look at it because it is beautiful—joy is the motivation. Yet the pursuit of this kind of pleasure leads me out of myself and into the night sky. It is a delight of fixing all of my thoughts. The essence of this pleasure lies in the beholding of others.
This latter pleasure, I believe, is a very human kind of pleasure. What we delight in indeed distinguishes us from the animals, but also how we delight in what we delight in distinguishes us from the animals. But don’t dogs display this kind of delight? Some animals try to comfort their owners, right? Yes, but it’s interesting to me how those dogs tend to be domesticated. You won’t find wolves trying to comfort humans, unless those wolves have been around humans for a while. Well, what about certain ape-like species? Even then, it’s interesting to me how we consider those features of the apes to be humanlike. In other words, there seems to be an intuition present in man that human pleasure seeking ought to consist in seeking the pleasure of being outward focused.
There seem to me to be two kinds of pleasures. When someone gives me a shoulder-massage, the pleasure is the kind of feeling I get from it. In other words, it is a feeling that is the proper end of the massage. Thus, the first kind of pleasure is a pursuit of a psychological state of delight in and of itself. Yet, we all know that there is another kind of joy. When I look at Niagara Falls, or the Grand Canyon, or a starry sky, or when I sit out on Blanchard lawn at Wheaton College and absorb the coolness of the wind, feel the heat of the sun’s warmth, cherish the music of the birds’ chorus, there emerges a very different kind of delight. The delight I have in a starry night sky isn’t simply delight I get from the sky; rather, it is delight in the sky. It’s not merely a good feeling in and of itself, like the feeling of scratching an itch. It’s a type of feeling oriented around an object.
If I were to look at the night sky, feel in my heart a rising joy in the glory hanging over me—and then proceed to contemplate the joy itself, that would kill the joy in me. As CS Lewis once pointed out, this is true of many emotions. Take hope. If I were to find hope in the promise of God’s coming kingdom on earth as in heaven, and then proceed to take my thoughts off the coming of the kingdom and onto the state of consciousness I am in when I hope in God, that kills the hope. The content of the hope is the coming of the kingdom. Hence, my pursuit of hope is my pursuit of right thinking and feeling about God’s kingdom. It’s the difference between merely feeling, and feeling about something. Yet, it cannot be said that I look at the night sky, with joy being a necessary by-product. I do not look at the sky out of some sense of obligation, even if I knew that the obligation would be pleasurable. No, I look at the night sky because it is lovely. I look at it because it is beautiful—joy is the motivation. Yet the pursuit of this kind of pleasure leads me out of myself and into the night sky. It is a delight of fixing all of my thoughts. The essence of this pleasure lies in the beholding of others.
This latter pleasure, I believe, is a very human kind of pleasure. What we delight in indeed distinguishes us from the animals, but also how we delight in what we delight in distinguishes us from the animals. But don’t dogs display this kind of delight? Some animals try to comfort their owners, right? Yes, but it’s interesting to me how those dogs tend to be domesticated. You won’t find wolves trying to comfort humans, unless those wolves have been around humans for a while. Well, what about certain ape-like species? Even then, it’s interesting to me how we consider those features of the apes to be humanlike. In other words, there seems to be an intuition present in man that human pleasure seeking ought to consist in seeking the pleasure of being outward focused.
Conclusion
You will never see an animal taking time to admire the stars, or bask in the glory of the Grand Canyon and proceed to contemplate its own smallness. Humans do this all the time, however. Human pleasure seeking (as in, true human pleasure seeking as embodied in Jesus Christ) is not just a pursuit of a psychological state in and of itself, but rather of a psychological state that is wholly fixed on the beauty of displaying and beholding God. Human pleasure seeking is not simply feeling, but rather feeling about. It is the kind of pleasure seeking we do when we drive to the Grand Canyon to behold its splendor; only, true humanity recognizes that the majesty of beholding the happiness of others is far greater than the majesty of beholding the Grand Canyon. So to be sure, we ought to seek pleasure. We ought to seek right feelings. But the people of God delight by delighting in. Their joy is the joy of beholding the happiness of others in God, and the joy of beholding God displayed, exalted, and communicated. To seek my pleasure in a Christ-like way, and therefore a human way, is to intertwine my joy with the joy of others, such that the essence of my feelings derive its flavor from delighting in others. And since most profound joy is the joy of beholding the beauties of God, a Christian like me who cares for the joy of others seeks to communicate and proclaim God in all I do. In typical Wheaton style, I'll end with a CS Lewis quote:
You will never see an animal taking time to admire the stars, or bask in the glory of the Grand Canyon and proceed to contemplate its own smallness. Humans do this all the time, however. Human pleasure seeking (as in, true human pleasure seeking as embodied in Jesus Christ) is not just a pursuit of a psychological state in and of itself, but rather of a psychological state that is wholly fixed on the beauty of displaying and beholding God. Human pleasure seeking is not simply feeling, but rather feeling about. It is the kind of pleasure seeking we do when we drive to the Grand Canyon to behold its splendor; only, true humanity recognizes that the majesty of beholding the happiness of others is far greater than the majesty of beholding the Grand Canyon. So to be sure, we ought to seek pleasure. We ought to seek right feelings. But the people of God delight by delighting in. Their joy is the joy of beholding the happiness of others in God, and the joy of beholding God displayed, exalted, and communicated. To seek my pleasure in a Christ-like way, and therefore a human way, is to intertwine my joy with the joy of others, such that the essence of my feelings derive its flavor from delighting in others. And since most profound joy is the joy of beholding the beauties of God, a Christian like me who cares for the joy of others seeks to communicate and proclaim God in all I do. In typical Wheaton style, I'll end with a CS Lewis quote:
