The Pleasure of Living in Unity

Jewish wisdom teaches that envy, uncontrolled desire, the pursuit of honor, and unchecked anger do more than harm relationships. They “remove a person from the world.” Modern psychology agrees these traits damage health and connection, yet it stops short of that stronger claim. What could it mean to be removed from the world while still alive?

Life’s deepest pleasure comes from unity. We sense it in music, when many notes blend into harmony. We taste it in food, when different flavors merge into one dish. We feel it in friendship, when two people come together in trust. At the highest level, unity means living in harmony within ourselves, with those around us, and with the Creator. Pleasure is not a side benefit of unity. It is the experience of unity itself. When unity is broken, life’s richest pleasure disappears, and we become cut off from our very purpose.

The destructive traits all fracture unity, and with it the possibility of true pleasure. Envy turns neighbors into rivals, leaving no room for shared joy. Desire treats others as objects, reducing them to what can be taken. The pursuit of honor elevates the self while wounding community. Anger explodes trust and poisons closeness. Each trait isolates, robbing us of the unities that give life delight. In that sense, they truly remove us from the world.

The antidote is not a list of scattered fixes but a single principle: love that builds unity. Love turns envy into joy for another’s success, desire into respect, pride into humility that lifts others, and anger into patience that holds relationships together. Love restores unity, and with unity comes the deepest pleasure life has to offer.

This season of reflection, as the Days of Awe approach, sharpens the choice. We can cling to traits that fracture unity and forfeit life’s truest joy, or we can return to unity with ourselves, with others, and with the One who created us. To live well is to live in unity. To live in unity is to know the pleasure we were created for.