212 Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path
has value of a specific magnitude depending on its rela-
tion to the magnitude of the existing hunger.
Unfulfilled demands in life cast a shadow even over de-
sires that are satisfied and thus diminish thevalue of plea-
surable hours. But we can also speak of thepresent value
of a feeling of pleasure. The smaller a pleasure in relation
to the duration and the intensity of our desire, the less the
present value of a feeling of pleasure will be.
A quantity of pleasure has full value for us when its du-
ration and degree exactly coincide with our desire. When
it is smaller than our desire, the value of a given quantity
of pleasure is diminished; when the pleasure is greater,
we have an undesired surplus, which is felt as pleasure
only for as long as we can heighten our desire during the
enjoyment itself. If we are in no position to keep the
growth of our desire in step with the increase of pleasure,
then pleasure turns into displeasure. The object that
would otherwise content us assails us without our want-
ing it, and we suffer from it. This is one proof that plea-
sure has value for us only as long as we can measure it
against our desire. An excess of pleasant feeling changes
into pain. We can observe this especially in persons
whose desire for any kind of pleasure is very slight. In
persons whose drive for food is stunted, eating quickly
leads to nausea. Again, we can see from this that desire is
the yardstick for the value of pleasure.
Pessimists might say that an unsatisfied drive for food
brings into the world not merely displeasure because of
lost enjoyment, but also positive pain, suffering, and
misery. They can appeal here to the nameless misery of
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