What about aroma? Each of the assorted foods not only has varied tastes and textures but markedly different smells, which contribute to our total enjoyment. When Hashem created food, He added this dimension of wonderful aromas to even further enhance our taste experience.
The food we eat comes in so many assorted flavors and textures, each one appealing to a different element of our tastes. Hashem re-planned and created all of this for us to enjoy.
And this is but one example of countless of features Hashem created strictly for our enjoyment. Hashem created, sights, sounds, textures, colors, depth and so many other features in this glorious world so that our experience here should be more pleasure filled. If the world was created for practical reasons only, all of this wouldn’t have to be. But Hashem put it all here, for us to enjoy.
Yet how often do we actually take the time to enjoy the foods we eat? How much attention do we pay to the sights we see? It takes training and concentration to consciously enjoy the life we lead. If we do, we will see a tremendous amount of detail and concern put in for our benefit. And we will see a tremendous demonstration of the kindness Hashem shows to man.
This seems to be what Rashi is saying. The ratio of 500:1 is accurate in this world. The problem isn’t the amount of pleasure in the world; the problem is that we lack the training to enjoy it.
When we learn to live with intention and use this world as it was designed to be used, we come to recognize the love Hashem has for all of His creations, and we then lead a purposeful, pleasure-filled life.
