‪Embodied Philosophy ‬

I scanned the article and if I read correctly it makes a huge point I like to stress myself: Pleasure is a FEELING, and viewing it as a natural feeling rather than something that contains some mystical element of "good" or "bad" provides the key to understanding it.

I totally agree with this article. There is no essential difference between physical, mental, and spiritual pleasures. We experience things because we have a body. Without our body we would not experience anything. Every feeling is embodied. Physical pleasure is not fundamentally different from intellectual pleasure, as we experience it in our body.

And this is also the problem I have with dualism, which often leads to undervaluing the physical experience and even demonizing our bodily nature. There is nothing inherently bad ("sinful") about enjoying the pleasures of good food or good sex. There is no "higher" form of happiness than the one we experience in our body, in this life.

Rhetorically our enemies try to trap us with arguments that are essentially "So you're saying that there is no difference between the pleasure of building a rocket and flying to the moon vs. the pleasure of picking your fingernail?"

No, that's not what we are saying. Pleasures do differ in many aspects. The point is that share many essential common aspects that are important to recognize lest we get taken in by arguments that some pleasures are blessed and some pleasures are prohibited such nonexistent reference points as gods or ideal forms.

Exactly. They can both enhance happiness, and in that they are not fundamentally different. But of course they have a huge difference in magnitude, and in impact on our overall happiness.

And just to underline your last point:

Quote from Principle Doctrines 8

no pleasure is bad in itself