Enough
I
Why do we desire more?
Convinced that “If I only had ___, then I would be happy.” Falsely believing the latest Rolex or promotion at work will finally bring us satisfaction, fulfillment and meaning. Not realizing we are playing a never-ending game we are destined to lose.
“A great fortune is a great slavery.” - Seneca
II
Our desires are temporary.
Time impacts what we desire. Our “needs” and “wants” have short shelf lives. Once we learn they are short lived, we can start letting go of all desire.
If you ever “needed” something only to realize later you actually didn’t, you understand. Similarly, when you obtain that thing you “wanted” only to realize it is not what you imagined, don’t want it anymore, and can’t give it away, you understand.
“Desire is the root of all suffering.” - Buddha
Our needs and wants are highly sensitive to time - whether we obtain them or not, we eventually realize we neither want or need them.
“Freedom isn’t secured by filling up on your heart’s desire, but by removing your desire.” - Epictetus
III
Perhaps, we should spend time reading tombstones.
Tombstones serve as the final reminder of what we all seem to truly want:
to be remembered for our relationship to others (“mother”); and
how we treated them (“loving husband”).
The lives of those before us seem to impart the same lesson: Mainly, that if we are healthy, have stable shelter, basic food, fulfilling work, and are surrounded with loving relationships, we really don’t need more.
And yet, we turn away from history’s recurring lesson. Willing to sacrifice all of these things in our endless pursuit of more.
IV
If we turn to the natural world, we can see that pursuing more is un-natural and dangerous.
In the natural world there are no overweight animals, oversized nests or dens. There is no overconsumption, senseless accumulation, or wastefulness. Nothing is superfluous.
In fact, in nature, pursuing more is deadly dangerous. When an animal consumes more than it should or builds overly conspicuous nests, it becomes easy prey. Consuming more reduces their chance of survival. Building bigger wastes precious energy and becomes unsustainable. Over-consume, get too big and slow, and you get eaten alive.
Similarly, if we turn to physics, we can see the concept of enough at work in our daily lives. For example, the force of gravity is enough so two objects weighing the same will fall at the same rate and hit the ground at the same time.
Gravity is constant and enough. It is unaffected by external factors, and maintains everything equally grounded.
The laws of nature teach us that excess comes at a high cost and with very high risk, and that enough is perfect, balanced and harmonious.
From nature, we can learn to stop at enough.
Instead of continuing to increase our burdensome load and becoming dangerously unstable, we can simply choose a more sustainable, balanced and natural existence.
“Enough is never too little.” - Seneca
The story of the fisherman and the banker