Dopamine IS NOT Joy

We cannot follow Christ and love dopamine at the same time. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and [dopamine]." Just like money isn't inherently evil but the love of money is a sin, experiencing the effects of neurotransmitters isn't a sin but putting God aside to chase after "dopamine liberating" events puts us outside the "strait and narrow path".


Let's set one thing straight - joy and dopamine are not the same thing.  Many times experiencing joy has the secondary effect of producing dopamine, but it is a mortal chemical and we can produce it without the joy that comes from God.

And don't even get me started at how well our fallen mortal frames are adept at self-deception and altering our perception in order to protect those events or sensations that produce dopamine. (Why else would Jacob admonish so strongly the need to "see things as they really are"?).  The body will try to find whatever neural sensations and experiences will produce the most reward for our mortal hard-wiring and situation, while at the same time avoiding the land-mines of cultural taboo and things that our "conscience" feel are not right (which can be altered by giving into these experiences and making them our automatic focus).

I ran across an article highlighting the interaction between discipleship and this drug that I think shed a lot of light on the interplay and interaction between our spirits and the Natural Man:

"A Dopamine-Driven World" by Dean Gotcher - October 10, 2007:

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure.  All habitual drugs such as cocaine, tobacco, caffeine, etc., which our body craves when it does not get more (when it runs out of it, or is inhibited from or incapable of producing or liberating dopamine), are tied to the dopamine. When we run out of it, we become agitated, get the shakes, and can become manically depressed.   

Dopamine is not only associated with craving but also with enjoyment or pleasure: when we smell bread, or see a sunset, or are complimented, or are drawn into activity associated with procreation (providing we found these to be enjoyable in the past i.e. in other words they did not produce pain or were not associated with pain in some way, providing we don't find pleasure in pain that is—this can all become quite complicated), dopamine is being secreted in the brain....  

Because dopamine is short-lived in the synaptic gap, while the memory of pleasure may last a lifetime, the experience itself is fleeting. Thus life is ever changing, with its swings of up and down, with people perpetually chasing after its pleasures.  

Over time, when the simulated dopamine is neutralized by the body, the body is not able to produce its own dopamine. This results in a craving for the drug. Whether addicted or not, our bodies crave for things in the environment which stimulate dopamine release.... We by nature are drawn to pleasure.  It is the lust for it (Eros) which gets us into trouble (sin).

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."  1 John 2:15-18

It is not pleasure itself which is a problem, it is the love of it, the love of the conditions which stimulate the body's craving for dopamine.  Lovers of pleasure are "driven" by the environment around them which liberates dopamine ("the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world"). The environment can not make you "do it," but it can draw you into such a state that any thought in its direction can easily encourage you to "do it."  Since the pleasures of this world have a propensity to draw our bodies toward pleasure, it is evil to find our purpose in life by the influences (encouragement or enticement) of the world.  In this way we can be easily "driven" by the things in the world, finding our "purpose" through relationship with it.

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Hebrews 11:24
"... and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"  2 Corinthians 10:5

What we set our heart's desire upon, what we treasure as important in our lives, determines a lot of how we will respond to the situation. Things in the environment which stimulate dopamine secretion (emancipation, liberation), explained below, can easily become the treasures of our lives. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  Luke 12:34  We store them in our mind, while we attempt to accumulate them externally for our continued pleasure.  It is not the toy itself which the child wants, it is the pleasure, the emancipation of dopamine, which the toy stimulates, for which the child craves (covets).

(See also "The Dialectical Drug Culture" by Dean Gotcher - November, 2006).

Why does God put his highest warnings and commandments around our procreative powers?  Could it have something to do with the amount of dopamine that these activities (or even thinking about those activities) produce, and how easily we could fall into the trap of seeking to continue to get those "happy hits" no matter the spiritual cost and impact on the family?

Elder Neal A. Maxwell has counseled numerous times on the topic of pleasure (dopamine) vs. joy.

"Cleanse Us From All Unrighteousness" (Ensign, Feb. 1986):

Of Jesus we read, “He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them.” (D&C 20:22.) We cannot become like Jesus, attribute by attribute, if we display hesitancy as to our purity, or if we are undiscerning between joy and pleasure. Lust is no more like love than itching is to joy, or talkativeness to wisdom, or indulgence to compassion, or passivity to patience.

"These Are Your Days" (New Era, Jan 1985):

Learn to distinguish between joy and pleasure. For instance, do not be mislead by the laughter of the world; it is merely a lonely crowd trying to reassure itself.

"Why Not Now?" (Ensign, Nov. 1974):

Do not look too deeply into the eyes of the pleasure-seekers about you, for if you do, you will see a certain sadness in sensuality, and you will hear artificiality in the laughter of licentiousness.

Do not look too deeply, either, into the motives of those who deny God, for you may notice their doubts of doubt.

"Brim With Joy" (BYU Devotional, Jan. 23, 1996):

... [Y]ou will see those about you who are surfing life’s pleasures indulgently. They will eventually crash against the reefs of reality.

... A major point about joy is that joy is obviously of a higher order than mere pleasure. Pleasure is perishable. It has a short shelf life. Mere pleasure is not lasting because it is constantly feeding on itself. Thus the appetites of the natural man, though frequently fed, are never filled. For instance, even as gluttony digests its latest glob, it begins anticipating its next meal. The same pattern prevails with regard to the praise of men, to lust, and to greed. Strange as it seems, so far as the carnal pleasures are concerned, the very act of their consumption insures the cancellation of their satisfactions. They just do not last!

Joy, on the other hand, is lasting. It involves the things that really matter, such as being forgiven and forgiving another. One true test of ultimate value has to do with whether or not something is lasting. Of so many human endeavors, even those celebrated with great excitement, the child’s question in one of Southey’s poems stands as a stark reminder: “But what good came of it at last?” (Robert Southey, The Battle of Blenheim [1798], st. 11). This criterion is not one to which the things of the flesh can successfully respond.

The carnal pleasures cannot finally deliver. In fact, there is a scripture in the Book of Mormon declaring that the adversary lets his followers down at the last day (see Alma 30:60). He can’t finally deliver. It is Jesus who is the Great Deliverer!

No wonder, therefore, the pleasurable things of the day and the things of the moment—such as having political power and social sway—are so fleeting. They are unrelated to true joy and to the everlasting things. Mere popularity, for instance, is not only transitory, it can also be dangerous. Wise President N. Eldon Tanner cautioned us, “This craving for praise and popularity too often controls actions, and as [people] succumb they find themselves bending their character when they think they are only taking a bow” (N. Eldon Tanner, “For They Loved the Praise of Men More Than the Praise of God,” Ensign, November 1975, p. 76). A wise and special man!

... Another great advantage of joy, contrasted with pleasure, is that joy overrides routine, which, otherwise, could make us bored. We don’t know, for instance, how many times Heavenly Father has been through the plan of salvation before with other of His children elsewhere before our particular sequence on this planet. God even hints at the repetitiveness of His redemption when He says, “[My] course is one eternal round” (see 1 Nephi 10:19; Alma 7:20; D&C 3:2). Yet God is never bored by what might seem mere routine. Why? Because of His perfect love for His children! What He calls “my work and my glory” brings abundant and pure joy! (see Moses 1:39).

Therefore, because God loves us, He seeks with such vigor and long-suffering to separate us from our sins, which He hates! This process of separation is one reason why much of the pain and suffering must be borne, a necessary thing if we would share in His ultimate joy.

Elder Maxwell also recounts an experience from the scriptures where one man was forced to determine which Master he would serve:

In the exchange between Jesus and a righteous young man, we see how one missing quality cannot be fully compensated for, even by other qualities, however praiseworthy.  

'The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 

'Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
...

'But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. [Matthew 19:20–22] 

In this instance the missing meekness prevented a submissive response by the young man; this deficiency altered his decision and the consequences flowing there from. 

I think what Elder Maxwell is saying is that it is only through adhering to all the doctrines, principles, and covenants we make to the Lord can we fully insulate ourselves from unchecked sources of dopamine.  The "righteous young man" had found a "sweep spot" of discipleship where he was able to adhere to the Gospel but still maintain a healthy on-demand source of dopamine.  What Christ asked was for him to forsake that "fountain-of-neurotransmitters" and follow him, depending on whatever L-dopa scraps may come his way as a result of full discipleship.

C. S. Lewis illustrates the battle of seeking happiness vs. seeking Christ in this excerpt from Mere Christianity:

"What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could 'be like gods' – could set up on their own as if they had created themselves – be their own masters – invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history – money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery – the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.  

"The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. 

... "Give up yourself and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."

And there's the rub.  Each of us has one aspect of the Gospel that we excel in, and we like to think that we can position ourselves to be both followers of Christ but also maintain access to that well-spring of "happy molecules".

That's the real test.  Do we seek after the strongest sensation here-and-now, or put Him first?  Do we follow Christ and forsake all activities where the main focus is just the production of dopamine, or do we make it our real God while fitting in worship here-and-there to make us feel good about ourselves and soothe our consciences.

We all have agency.  Let's see which master we will put first in our lives.