It has been a long absence.
Today, I came across a thoughtful and beautiful passage.
“One interesting thing about greed is that although the underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, the irony is that even after obtaining the object of your desire, you are still not satisfied. The true antidote of greed is contentment. If you have a strong sense of contentment, it doesn’t matter whether you obtain the object or not, either way, you are still content.
So how can we achieve inner contentment? There are two methods. One method is to obtain everything that we want and desire – all the money, houses, and cars; the perfect mate; and the perfect body. The Dalai Lama has already pointed out the disadvantage of this approach; if our wants and desires remain unchecked, sooner or later we will run up against something that we want but can’t have. The second, and more reliable, method is not to have what we want, but rather to want and appreciate what we have.” -- The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler.
How true! It’s an arrow that pierces to the heart of the matter, and diagnose what I am going through, and what I suspect many of us who are immersed in the Insta-culture. Dream big. Live your bliss. In a certain sense, “living your bliss” can be a wake up call to the material culture. However, “living your bliss” also runs the risks of creating a kind of spiritual materialism. The things that we want may look different, but they are still pursued for the same reason.
It is not bad to want things. And it is not bad to want to change one’s life situation. But if we can start from a starting point of contentment, we can always be – well, content. But if we start from a point of deprivation, we will suffer before we get that thing, have a moment of satisfaction, and then continue to suffer as we strive for the next thing.
And this reminds me of this passage:
"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:11-12.
