Ideology, politics, philosophy, or religion work to redirect bodily energy (fleshly, libidinal desire) into grand tasks, but one must always return to the body.
In beliefs, you can transgress (or backslide) into primordial alignment: carnality, gluttony, or sloth. But even if you are a paragon of discipline till the end, your flesh takes the vengeance of death: your will versus the body’s ultimate return.
The question remains if the "grand task" is worth the suffering effort. Is the fight perpetual, with an always deferred victory requiring more effort? If so, you haveyou’ren not pleasure, but pain and named its purpose.