The Hidden Cost of Wanting More
finding satisfaction in simplicity
“He who buys what he does not need, steals from himself.”
— Swedish Proverb
» option to play this song while reading »
It feels obvious that true peace and happiness is more about clarity and quality than about quantity.
A best friend is worth more than a million acquaintances. A high-quality garment is worth more than 1000 rags.
And it feels obvious that life is all about the depth of connection, not the breadth of things connected to it.
Yet our lives are cluttered with extra — surplus. Filled with things we don't want and don't need. We fill our finite selves and our time with so much gunk that we lose the very essence of what we are.
I cannot judge anyone for this, as we are all guilty of it. But I can suggest with urgency that you consider the idea of culling the unnecessary things from your life.
Find the simplicity to find the clarity.
And find the clarity reclaim the essence of who you are.
The false pursuit of more
"Because of attachment, you get emotionally involved in a concrete sense world of your own creation, denying yourself the space or time to see the reality of your own mind."
— Lama Yeshe
The distraction of more clogs the mind's pipes of appreciation.
Imagine for a moment a person who buys so many clothes they lose their sense of style. They're not excited to pick their outfit anymore — they dread it. It's no longer a creative act done with clarity. It's confused and muddy. They have lost the point of the self-expression.
The same person's bookshelf is also cluttered. They have so many books that they don't know where to start — so they never do.
And their calendar is so full of social obligations to meet that they forget which ones they actually enjoy going to.
It's at this point that life becomes a mile wide, but only an inch deep.
Life becomes like a cupboard filled with so many things that opening it is no longer an option.
It's in this state that the mind is so cluttered that it can't see itself.
This modern pursuit of more is fool's gold.
Because anyone who is fortunate enough to buy whatever they want will tell you the hunger for more can never be satiated.
And the more one thinks about it, the more obvious it becomes that true peace and happiness is not about quantity or abundance — it's about clarity and quality.
It becomes obvious that attachment to our 'stuff' is a hindrance, not a help.
So why not begin to quiet the mind through the process of simplifying the life?
It's much more difficult to think clearly in a messy room.
And it's much more difficult to live a blissful life while having too many things going on in it.
Refocusing your life
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
— Leonardo da Vinci
Consider for a moment a simpler version of your life.
You only have the perfect items of items.
You only make time for the highest quality of people.
You only do the things that make you feel your highest self.
When you imagine a reality where you only hold onto the very best, don't you feel foolish for ever having held onto anything less than that?
I've always told my friends and family that the good life is more about minimising the problematic than maximising the extraordinary.
And maybe that's all this is.
Not a manifesto or a revolution. Just a return. Clearing away they noise so you can hear your own mind again.
Like a song with too many instruments, deleting one might be the true artistic genius.
In the spirit of simplicity, I won't carry on any longer.
I'll leave you with a piece of advice that appears basic on the exterior, but its essence will help guide you toward a life of simplistic beauty.
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
— William Morris
Sincerely,
eren
Nice post Eren, agreed that it's important to minimise your wants and really only focus on the things you do want instead of aiming for everything. While reading made me think of Western society being accustomed and persuaded to always push for more because it's what brings "happiness". But I've realised through my travelling to "poorer" places in the world the people here are much happier with what they have. And what's common in all of them is their connection with family. I think we've lost this in Western society, and we are all taking our own paths to be independent. Not sure what you think about this, or if you had a similar experience.
I think the US capitalistic system of government has exacerbated this desire for more, bigger, better. People lose their minds at the very whisper of the words “democratic socialism,” likely because they don’t understand it…and because we’ve been conditioned to think that way.