For in the majority of men there are
certain instincts so strong and so dangerous -as, the sex-instinct,
the craving for stimulants and excitement-that where no repressive
principle exists they tend to override the grumblings of prudence and
drag their possessor to disaster. It is impossible for most men, if
they give themselves over to the pursuit of personal pleasure, to keep
to the quiet, refined, healthful pleasures which Epicurus advocated.
Their feet go down to death.
(2) But even if the worst penalties are escaped, indulgence brings
at least satiety, the "heart high cloyed," a blunted capacity for
enjoyment, ennui, restlessness, and depression of spirit. Keen as its
zest may be at the outset, it is short-lived at best; and with the
ensuing emotional fatigue, pleasures pall, life seems empty, robbed
of its meaning and glory.
(3) Moreover, pleasure-seeking is cursed with the specter of
aimlessness; it entirely misses the deepest and most satisfying joys
of life, the joy of healthy, unspent forces and desires, the joy of
purpose and achievement, the joy of the pure, disciplined, loyal life.
It renders these joys unattainable; we cannot serve God and sense,
ideals and lusts of the flesh. The parting of the ways lies before
every man; and it is the perennial tragedy of life that so many, misled
by impulse and blinded by desire, fail to see the beauty of holiness
and choose the lesser good.
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