Become New with John Ortberg 27. What's Your Pleasure Quotient?
Sep 14, 2021
A playful look at why pleasure matters and when delight goes missing. Discussion of C.S. Lewis’s take on emotional peaks and troughs and how dryness invites temptation. Thoughts on the difference between wanting and truly enjoying things. Reflections on pleasure as part of creation and an invitation to savor, frolic, and reconnect with simple joy.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Emotional Life Follows Undulating Peaks And Troughs
- Pleasure fluctuates naturally through peaks and troughs rather than as a steady line of progress.
- John Ortberg cites C.S. Lewis's law of undulation to explain inevitable emotional highs and lows and normalizes periods of dryness.
The Lost Recording And Gnats Example
- John Ortberg recounts a failed recording where he forgot to press the record button and later battled gnats, illustrating how small things rob pleasure.
- The concrete mishaps (lost take, barking dogs, gnats) show how daily irritations create troughs.
Anhedonia Means Losing Wanting And Liking
- Anhedonia has two core components: wanting (loss of motivation) and liking (loss of satisfaction while experiencing things).
- Ortberg links the modern hedonic crisis to a cultural focus on pleasure that paradoxically reduces capacity to enjoy.
