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Buddhism writing teaches

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the source of unsatisfactoriness is our craving and our attempt to hang on to pleasurable things that don't last

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the biological mechanics of craving show that we focus on and anticipate pleasure

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we tend to forget that pleasures we will last only a very short time

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when eating pleasant food, we don't literally think that the pleasure will last forever

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but in a sense we are disappointed when the pleasure subsides and so we crave it again

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when we think about doing pleasurable things, we think much more about the pleasure than of the evaporation of the pleasure afterward

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we focus on the "moment of pleasure coming up"

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an extension of this is infatuation which can lead to delusion

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when infatuated, we have trouble seeing blemishes or deficiencies in our object of infatuation

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here we may have a sense that the food we are about to enjoy is perfect and has no blemishes, we are completely absorbed in the imminent pleasure

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yet soon after taking the first bite and consuming the food, we realize the reality of the food and crave our idea of its perfection in the next bite, which is less perfect than the first

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our infatuation with food quickly evaporates in this way

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in terms of infatuation of a person, we feel that if we were to be in a relationship with the person we are infatuated with, then there would be some kind of eternal satisfaction

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since relationships are more complicated than this, we can say that this is a type of delusion: we think they are perfect yet they are not

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when we get into a real relationship with them, we discover their imperfections and our infatuation subsides

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this applies as well to e.g. a certain job we want

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we feel when we get that job, then everything in life will come into line and be right

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we feel that if we get this job, we will "have arrived"

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this is also a type of delusion based on lack of attention to detail of reality

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one biological explanation why we often don't comprehend that gratification won't last forever is in the bio-transmitter dopamine

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the way dopamine works is of course more complicated than these names suggest

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we have to remember that dopamine is not simply a "pleasure chemical" or "reward chemical"

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it depends what part of the brain it is in, which neurons are involved

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we have to remember to distinguish between a causation and correlation

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it may be that pleasure is simply correlated with dopamine but not caused by it

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however, experiments particularly with monkeys, do show interesting correlations between pleasure causing actions and the chemical dopamine

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they gave fruit juice to monkey

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this cause in him 1/3 of a second of a dopamine spike

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later in the experiment, they made anticipation possible

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light means fruit juice is coming and what happens is that when the light went on, there was a dopamine spike in the anticipation of pleasure

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shows that the monkey is focusing on the pleasure to come

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an imagining of the pleasure that is coming

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but when there is dopamine in anticipation, there is less spike when the fruit just comes

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often the anticipation is where most of the pleasure happens

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when we reflect on our own experience of anticipation of enjoyment and enjoyment itself, we can understand how anticipation brings strong pleasure, followed by an spike of initial pleasure and then rapid receding of pleasure

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our bodies could have evolved to keep excreting dopamine for 10-20 seconds, but that didn't happen, why?

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we can understand this by considering that the purpose an organism's life, as far as natural selection is concerned, is to pass its genes into the next generation, and so pleasure is used as a tool to get the organism to maximize the chance that this will happen

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if you wanted animals to get their genes into the next generation, the following three elements that would be the most helpful:

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1. when they are doing things that work toward this goal, they should get some pleasure, e.g. while eating, having sex, or elevating social status

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2. make the pleasure evaporate shortly thereafter

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if you ate just one meal and afterwards experienced pleasure from this for long periods of time, you would not have an unpleasant sensations during this time, and hence would not be motivated to go search for more food and eat again

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these genes that encourage restlessness are going to do better at passing themselves to the next generation than genes which encourage extended periods of pleasure

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3. make the animal focus more on the pleasure that is to come than on its ensuing evaporation

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if you are thinking, "the pleasure is going to be over immediately anyway, why work so hard" then you will be less likely to do the work to get the pleasure

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experiments have shown that if a pleasure without warning is given to an animal, it generally experiences a spike of the chemical dopamine in its brain

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however, if the animal is allowed to anticipate the pleasure beforehand, i.e. if a light is consistently turned on before the pleasure is administered, then the anticipation will give the animal a larger spike of dopamine than the reward itself

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each successive bite of a doughnut is less enjoyable

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the anticipation of buying the donuts was greater as a whole and got me to do the necessary work to obtain the food

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why would natural selection have designed brains that are attracted to powdered sugar donuts since they aren't very good for us

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it didn't because powdered sugar donuts were not part of the landscape as our lineage evolved

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what was part of the landscape, however, was sweetness, which was an indicator of sugars which was something that was rare and helped us survive

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in cases where enjoyment has become routine, why don't we just do the anticipation and skip the eating

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in experiments when monkeys anticipate and then do not get a reward, they have a drop in dopamine levels

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e.g. when you know there is a piece of cake in the refrigerator, you open the door, and someone has eaten it, you feel let down

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the basic principles of Buddhism identify the natural state of being we find ourselves in which has resulted from the process of natural selection forming us

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1. Buddhism says pleasure doesn't last and will always leave us unsatisfied

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this is natural selection's intention:

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natural selection prefers organisms to be unsatisfied so that they continue to do the work on natural selection's agenda: stay alive and pass on your genes

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2. Buddhism says we tend to focus on pleasure instead of on the fleetingness of pleasure

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this is natural selection's intention:

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if we focused on the fleetingness of pleasure, we wouldn't be so inclined to do the work in the first place to get the pleasure

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3. Buddhism says that we do not see the world as it is

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this is natural selection's intention:

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natural selection has formed us to see the world unclearly so that we maintain a high stress level and are overly fearful of our environment so that we think there are more dangers than there actually are

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those organisms which have been overly careful, i.e. not only seen real snakes but also often mistaken sticks for snakes and movements in the grass for snakes, have generally been those that have lived long enough to pass on their genes, and this is all natural selection cares about

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so while natural selection has formed us to:

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1. be unsatisfied

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2. desire, anticipate and focus on pleasure

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3. see the world unclearly

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Buddhism teaches us to:

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1. transcend unsatisfaction

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2. do not focus on pleasure

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3. see the world clearly