Man’s desire-Enough Is Never Enough!
Suppose you did the work you love, didn’t have any debt, could afford a comfortable vacation, and were rich enough to move into a bigger house. Could you be happy under those circumstances? You might say yes, but most people would probably still feel dissatisfied in a short time. No matter how much we have, we usually want more. That is the nature of endless desire.
Why are people continuously unhappy with their earthly lot? First we are always comparing ourselves with others. We are dying to know how much money our neighbors, friends, and relatives have, where they live, what they drive, what they wear, and how they spend their vacations.
It is always easy for us to fantasize about how easier life would be if we only had a little more money. Second, the mass media feed us falsely glamorous notions about the world, how the beautiful people live lives of such luxury and ease; and we want the same. So we are never satisfied with what we have, no matter how comfortable we may actually be; we are all like mosquitos flying into flames.
We are too strongly hooked to the illusion of spiraling desire to restrain ourselves easily. We need to remove our lust for earthly goods step by step. Doing so requires time and practice, like learning how to ride a bicycle. Unfortunately, we don’t make much progress because, during the ride, instead of concentrating on keeping our balance we are too likely to be wishing we had a ten-speed.
Opinion Sample
1. It’s always hard to tell exactly where I am in the race. Some of my friends seem ahead of me in terms of worldly possessions, and some behind. Or, one may drive a nice new car and live in a real dump, while another may have both a big sedan and a big house but always be short of cash. I have yet to find the perfect yardstick to measure my own success against; the standards keep shifting. All I know is, I’m not yet satisfied with what I have, and my friends don’t seem to be either.
2. I’ve been rich, I’ve been poor; rich is better. Sometimes idealistic spoilsports try to convince me that wealth doesn’t matter, but I think they are either jealous or lazy. A big car is safer to drive than a compact, and having a chauffeur is more convenient than driving yourself, just as it’s more comfortable to hire a maid to clean up the house. And a activities and guests; Why be unnecessarily cramped and confined? And, of course, money is necessary for routine medical care-not to mention emergencies!-and better educational opportunities, as well as happier vacations, better clothes, and more beautiful objects of art. Anyone who says poor is better must be a hypocrite.
3. It’s hard to abandon our desires, because having them is to our evolutionary advantage. If our species hadn’t been striving for millennia to better ourselves, we’d still be living very nasty, short, and brutish lives indeed. If suddenly we were all satisfied with what we had, it would be the end of progress. It may be difficult to define how much “enough” is, but surely it is more than we already have.
Express Yourself
1. Do you want to be gorgeous/rich/famous? Why or Why not?
2. Are you happier when you think you have more money, a bigger house, or more expensive car than your peers?
3. Why is it hard to give up our desire?
4. How can we cure ourselves from always wanting too much?