You can have more, you can do better, you can be different ... if you
must.
There's
nothing wrong
with any of that. We all do it. We all want to.
The question is: is it satisfying? And if so, when do we get
satisfaction? After we get more? After we've done better? After we're
different?
Or is it prior to all that?
Is satisfaction the result of getting more? Is it the
result of doing better? Is it the result of being different?
Or could it be it goeswith all that? (as
Alan Watts
may have said).
Examining and discovering what allows for us being satisfied prior to
(and thus carried into) any and all of life's avenues, is the
only game in town. It's a game in sharp contrast to any of the other
games people play. In other games, when the game ends it ends. This
game never ends. In other games, there are winners and there are
losers. In this game there are only winners. In other games there are
players and there are spectators. In this game there are only players.
Oh, and in this game, everyone's on the same team.
In contrast, the unexamined drive for more /
better / different arguably runs a bigger
percentage of the population. It requires less original thought. And
eventually, much to the chagrin of its adherents, it's also more
disappointing and more frustrating. That's not to say it doesn't have
any rewards. Rather, it's that when we get its rewards, instead of a
sense of victory, we're left with the nagging question "Is this all
there is?".
The evidence of its
futility
is in this simple observation: if more / better / different were
enough, when you and I are beyond a certain level of achievement, we
would be satisfied, and when you and I are below a certain level of
achievement, we wouldn't stand a chance of ever being satisfied in
life. Look around. Tell the truth about what you see. Tell the truth
about your experience. Tell the truth about the stock you've put in
this attraction. You can tell it doesn't pay out in lasting
satisfaction. In this sense, we're all gambling addicts
inexorably
losing at slot machines of life.
Since we're all autonomically thrown to gamble this way anyway, the
question then arises "What's the possibility of the more / better /
different drive if we bring satisfaction to it rather than seeking
satisfaction from it?". It's this inquiry which is the only game in
town.