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you know, I'm actually not really sure where this came from, I just have a paper with all this written on it... so, no, i didn't write it, but no, i don't know where it's from. I got it at church if that helps at all.
"The present is an age of pleasure-seeking, and men are losing their sanity in the mad rush for sensations that do but excite and disappoint. In this day of counterfeits, adulterations, and base imitations, the devil is busier than he has ever been in the course of human history, in the manufacture of pleasures, both old and new; and these he offers for sale in most attractive fashion, falsely labeled, Happiness. In this soul-destroying craft he is without a peer; he has had centuries of experience and practice, and by his skill he controls the market. He has learned the tricks of the trade, and knows well how to catch the eye and arouse the desire of his customers. He puts up the stuff in bright-colored packages, tied with tinsel string and tassel; and crowds flock to his bargain counters, hustling and crushing one another in a frenzy to buy.
Follow one of the purchasers as he goes of gloatingly with his gaudy packet and watch him as he opens it. What finds he inside the gilded wrapping? He has expected fragrant happiness, but uncovers only an inferior brand of pleasure, the stench of which is nauseating.
Happiness includes all that is really desirable and of true worth in pleasure, and much beside. Happiness is genuine gold, pleasure but gilded brass, which corrodes in the hand, and is soon converted into poisonous verdigris. Happiness is as the genuine diamond, which, rough or polished, shines with its own inimitable luster; pleasure is as the paste imitation that glows only when artificially embellished. Happiness is as the ruby, red as the heart's blood, hard and enduring; pleasure, as stained glass, soft, brittle and of but transitory beauty.
Happiness is true food, wholesome, nutritious and sweet; it builds up the body and generates energy for action, physical, mental and spiritual; pleasure is but a decieving stimulant which, like spirituous drink, makes one think he is strong when in reality evfeebled; makes him fancy he is well when in fact stricken with deadly malady.
Happinesss leaves no bad after-taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction; it calls for no repentence, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering; and, if indulged to the extreme, it brings degradation and destruction.
True happiness is lived over and over again in memory, always with a renewal of the original good; a moment of unholy pleasure may leave a barbed sting, which, like a thorn in the flesh, is an ever-present source of anguish."
Brutal, but the world is confusing pleasure with happiness. So, I'm posting this to maybe open some people's eyes. [♥]
 zykrinnox · Mon Jul 26, 2010 @ 04:15am · 0 Comments |
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