FOLLY OF WANTING

Why are we unhappy? It is because we are filled with wanting, with desire, to the point that eventually the desire becomes a thirst that cannot be satisfied, even when we achieve what we desire.  So how can we be happy?  By ceasing to desire.

Just as a fire dies down when no fuel is added to it, so our unhappiness will end when the fuel of desire is removed.  We must not strive, grasp, cling, clutch, wanting to do this or to be that, for even when we attain what we want, it is not enough.  And the more we have the more we want.

Attaining what we want is suffering just as much as not attaining it is, with suffering defined as chronic frustration. What is gained by striving but wealth, power, and prestige, what society has taught us are the desirable things in this life.  But Krishnamurti said, “Think it through.  Do you really want what you think you want?”  Beware of what you want, you might get it.  Hell is getting what you want, the old adages go.

The reality of wealth, power, and prestige is that they are transient and therefore will end soon enough in suffering.  The aim of Buddhism is to eliminate suffering.  The saying “less is more” is correct.  Have nothing and want nothing, taking, consequently, the greatest pleasure in the smallest things and being happy.

“He who knows he has enough is rich,” the Taoist Lao Tsu stated it.