This program will give teens the opportunity to do a self-evaluation of whether or not the things they dream about and the goals they set for themselves are as good as they can get, or if they can do better.
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This program will give teens the opportunity to do a self-evaluation of whether or not the things they dream about and the goals they set for themselves are as good as they can get, or if they can do better.
Advisors should familiarize themselves with the attached shiur, The Five Levels of Pleasure by Rabbi Noach Weinberg and be prepared to integrate an abbreviated version of the shiur into the program so that the teens are able to absorb and understand the main points and lessons through being part of the interactive program.
What To Do
Advisors will begin by facilitating “happy cards” being given out to groups. Each card has a different pleasure written on them (e.g. food, money, feeling like my friends love me, accomplishing my life's mission, connecting to the infinite, etc.)
Advisors then ask each group to rank the cards in order of what they think is most important.
Then, with the rankings in place so everyone in the group can see, the advisor teaches what pleasure really is, and goes through each of the 5 different "levels" of pleasure (see below).
After each "level," the group can have a short discussion and see if they want to change their rankings at all and then do a final ranking at the end. (If the advisor feels the session will flow better, one ranking before starting and one final ranking at the end will suffice.)
Main Points For Discussion
- Just as every parent wants their children to be happy, G-d wants us to be happy. But real happiness only comes through accomplishment – not from relaxing all day doing nothing.
- Life’s pleasures can be divided into 5 categories; no amount of a pleasure from a lower class can come close to being exchanged for even the smallest amount of a higher class of pleasure.
- Beware of counterfeit pleasures - they distract you from better things by getting you into things that are only temporarily enjoyable, but don’t give you lasting happiness.
- The opposite of pain is not pleasure – it’s comfort. Comfort feels good but does not give you real happiness. Pain is the price you pay for pleasure. Pain is also known as effort. The greater the effort, the greater the pleasure.
- One must keep focused on the pleasure they’re pursuing. If they focus on the pain/effort needed to get the pleasure, they’ll just feel the pain. If they focus on the pleasure and the goal only, whatever pain there is they probably won’t even notice.
The Five Levels of Pleasure, Summarized
5th Class Pleasure - Anything physical, aka money, food, cars, opposite gender, etc.
- Counterfeit 5th class is improper or over indulgence of the physical
- Note that this IS A PLEASURE TO BE ENJOYED. Judaism believes in enjoying pleasure - just not in overdoing the lower pleasures at the expense of something better.
4th Class Pleasure - Love
- Someone would give up all their physical pleasures for real love
- Counterfeit 4th Class is infatuation; Love VS Infatuation
3rd Class Pleasure - A Cause; A mission in life
- Someone would give up their loved ones for a cause they truly believe in
- People would easily give up all of their physical pleasures for their cause
- Counterfeit is looking good instead of actually being good
2nd Class Pleasure – Creativity
- Seeing your mark left on the world; when YOU change the world
- Making your own organization to save the trees rather than just volunteering
- Counterfeit is power and controlling people.
1st Class Pleasure - An encounter with G-d
- G-d is the infinite source of pleasure; a transcendental experience
- Counterfeit first class pleasure is drugs and mind altering substances