Ascetism And Pleasure

I find some religions very strange in the contradictions between ascetism and the pursuit of pleasure. Now, some do instruct their followers to deny worldly things in pursuit of enlightenment of some form. That seems like an interesting enough proposition, considering that the assumption is that the world is something everyone wants to get away from. Life sucks enough as it is, eh?

Then comes the problem. The ultimate result of ascension is some form of eternal pleasure. Now, I can understand that humans in general wish to avoid pain and gain pleasure. It's a simple enough to understand sort of hedonistic drive. Unfortunately, in religions that purport to deny the world, it seems quite counter-intuitive. After all, isn't pleasure a distinctly worldly thing? One cannot be sure that anyone can actually experience pleasure as humans understand it once they're dead. Do ghosts/souls/ascended beings actually have some way of processing pleasure? That question's probably one of theology, so I'd leave you to form your own conclusions.

Even worse is the pursuit of enlightenment in avoidance of pain. That's very much along the lines of the this-world-sucks-I-should-leave-it mentality. In the choice between eternal pleasure and eternal agony, the choice is quite a no-brainer. I'd be rather a lot happier not screaming in pain for eternity. However, such a simple dichotomy of choice raises a question: Is there no state in-between, and is the appearance of these very simple options present to distract people from other possible goals?

To me, "enlightenment" should have its merits as an end in itself. If one wishes to pursue enlightenment in order to gain pleasure or even to "ascend" and thus become superior in some way, then the path to enlightenment becomes an means to an end. It is no longer the ultimate goal. Some may ask: So why pursue something for its own sake? For now, my personal answer is: Why not?