Buddhism?
I was reading “A Treasury of Philosophy” and I came across a section on happiness and found my good friend Arthur Schopenhauer!!! I will write his idea, “All willing arises from want, therefore from deficiency, and therefore from suffering. The satisfaction of a wish ends it; yet for one wish that is satisfied there remain at least ten which are denied. Further, the desire lasts long, the demands are infinite; the satisfaction is short and scantily measured out.But even the final satisfaction is itself only apparent; every satisfied wish at once makes room for a new one; both are illusions….no attained object of desire can give lasting satisfaction; it is like alms thrown to the beggar, that keeps him alive today that his misery may be prolonged till the morrow.”
What is it that we are trying to get?! If we get it will we be happy? You get a computer, you want internet; you get dial up it’s too slow; you get DSL you want a new computer. The cycle is maddening!!! Why not stop it? Why not follow the advice of this wise man?
Filed under: Food for Thought and
Jose, no matter what you do, say, or how you live: you, meaning in general people, will always try to get something more out of life. That something might be a better life, better education, money, love, you name it. Even the wise man who turned away technology and modern “necessity”, as people call it, wants something, and that is enlightenment, or a mere end. Even in death, people want more. In the past few posts, you’ve talked about “God”. Heaven? isn’t that something people want in death too? So, truly, you never really stop wanting, and getting more than you can handle. Even our greatest heroes keep WANTING to save others. Man’s single greatest gift is his curiosity – That is why no person will ever be content with want she has, even if she says so otherwise.
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Wow Jose! You surprise me! Well Buddhism stresses self-cultivation. We should be content with just having our basic needs fulfilled. Clothes, a warm place to sleep, food to eat, and spiritual enlightenment. When you give up all your worldly possessions and gain what you really need, it is then that you realize what you’ve been searching for.
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I agree with Vijay completely.
To speak frankly, I don’t think people should be content with what they just have already if they have the ability and/or opportunity to make things better. I think that the real reason people keep wanting more is to have motivation; something to keep them going;something to keep fighting for. When you let “the cycle stop”, not much is produced or created. We wouldn’t have gotten out of the Great Depression if we were just “content” with how things were..(I hope that example wasn’t too far out)
just remember what our good ol’ friend Emerson said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”
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I rather agree with Andrea. I think that wanting improvement is different from being a selfish person.
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Wanting self-improvement, and actually improving are two completely different things. Most people fail to realize that. One common example is the concept of “New Years Resolutions”. Now I am talking in general, but how many people a year actually accomplish all of their new years resolutions, if any at all? Its mainly just a facade just to show that you’re trying to change or be in a state of action. The truth is that in most common, teenage cases, changing something isn’t that difficult, its just the idea of it and the thoughts behind such a radical decision that scare people.
A huge example is whats going on in America right now. We have the first female presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton. Aside from all the obvious flaws from her, (i mean both) campaign, and even if she did have excellent standpoints, the question running along word of Wolf every few days is, “Is America ready for a wo(man) in the oval office, executive chair?”. Sure its a change, but isn’t it just going back to the principles of getting over fear of change, nothing more?
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Just a side note Vijay, Hillary Clinton is NOT the first female presidential candidate AT ALL. Actually, back in ‘72, a Black AND female candidate, Shirley Chisholm, ran for president in this beloved nation. Other females that ran for president in just that year alone were Linda Jenness and Evelyn Reed.
Vijay, I know you love Wikipedia just as I do, so I am leaving here a URL that lists all past US female presidential candidates:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_United_States_presidential_and_vice-presidential_candidates
Besides that, even though you know that I am a hardcore Obama supporter, who says America is not ready for a woman to govern this country? Why and how could the quality of governing the nation be lowered just based on obvious anatomical differences?
Most importantly, what does your point have to do with the topic at all?
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Andrea you totally got me on that one. I guess I didn’t know that. She is not the FIRST then, but probably the closest to the goal. I’ll keep in mind about Shirley Chisholm and the others. Odd how we never hear of such in history class isn’t it? Anyway referring to your other questions. If you re-read the first paragraph, disregarding the presidential examples, then you will clearly see how its connected to the idea of change. Third, the reference to Wolf in the comment is CNN news, which asked such a question, as well as several other Media corporations on television, in articles, etc. Also, random people asked by reporters. If you re-read my comment, you will also see that I never questioned the quality or capability of a female leader. As you probably know, India was led for years by the first female Prime Minister Indira Ghandi, with success, until she was assassinated.
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