Pleasures Instinctive And Acquired

Article #4: Pleasures, Instinctive and Acquired

Remember the meanings of joys or pleasures are elative. The inveterate cigarette smoker may insist that he gets pleasure from smoking. But this same man will have to agree that this feeling of pleasure primarily had to be acquired. The first cigarette was everything but pleasant, but in spite of it, by conformity the habit is started. Later, the inevitable effects of drug addiction take hold and the smokers find “pleasure” in smoking the smoke containing the alkaloids.

In a similar fashion, sensations of pleasure can be cultivated from the eating of harmful foods. Think about the candy, doughnut, cake and soft drink habit, all giving relative “pleasures.”?

Surprisingly, animal flesh belongs in the same category of providing “pleasure.” In this case it is obtained from the meat containing alkaloids, with their stimulating action. It may be shocking to some of us to learn that we are imbibing narcotics, when partaking in the eating of meat.

We have digressed somewhat to establish the meaning of pleasure. The point is knowing that there are several types. Some pleasures are deeply inherent, instinctive and satisfy constructively. Other pleasures are of relative significance. They later had to be learned in the overcoming of inborn natural protective instincts. This explains the sickening feeling after the first cigarette or the belching or burning signals uttered by protesting digestive organs. We could also include the resulting disgust most of us experience when passing a butcher shop. The “enjoyment” of meat is definitely a relative and learned pleasure.

What is amazing is to discover our own immense capacities for adjustment. Once the mind has appropriated the truth, an unrelenting change in our feelings surges ahead. Natural instincts again take over, with a reshuffling of pleasure concepts.

Not all of us can benefit from such a reform, directed by our own free will. When I returned from Argentina with the evidence and pictures of Dr. Roffo’s cancer experiments, showing the horrible and gory results of smoking in my professional classes, I could always expect a certain percentage of my students to quit the habit.

I mentioned a “certain percentage,” why not all of them? Simply the message did not go through, their minds refused to accept it. Remember, only some of us, not all of us, do recognize the truth, when it is presented. When the pupil is ready, the master will appear.

An excerpt from the book, The Health Secrets of a Naturopathic Doctor by M. O. Garten