We live in a culture that is never satisfied and always desires more:
More money. More clothing. More toys. More square feet. More followers.
In fact, in many ways, the pursuit of more defines our entire society:
More power. More wealth. More prestige. More reputation. More sex. More. More. More
But there is a problem with the lifestyle choice of desiring more. When we constantly desire more, we are never satisfied. Because no matter how much we accumulate or achieve, more always exists.
By definition, it is unquenchable.
No matter how much money is in your bank account… there can always be more. No matter how big your house… there can always be more. No matter how many likes on your Instagram post or views on your Tik-Tok video… there can always be more.
When more is the goal, we never fully arrive. It is insatiable. And that is the problem with always wanting more. Happiness and contentment will always elude us if we are looking for it in the acquisition of more.
I suppose, if it was commonplace to see an end to this pursuit, that would be a different story. If human beings eventually arrived at a level of more, and suddenly became content, we could all strive to reach that magical level.
But that is not the example surrounding us. Quite the opposite in fact. Most everybody who acquires more, only continues to pursue it.
We see it in the lives of individuals who amass great fortunes but are not satisfied.
We see it in the world’s largest corporations who continue to pursue greater and greater market share and profits.
We see it in those who acquire power and then work relentlessly to keep it and expand upon it.
In the early 1900’s, John D. Rockefeller was the richest man in the world. He was once famously asked by a reporter, “How much money is enough money?” Rockefeller replied, “Just a little bit more.”
The richest man in the world, not satisfied, still in pursuit of more. More can never satisfy.
Other larger, less anecdotal studies, come to the same conclusion that even the wealthiest among us are never fully satisfied.
Of course, we don’t need to look at the lives of others to understand this phenomenon. One look in the mirror reveals the same motivation inside us.
The average American home has tripled in size in the last 50 years and continues to grow larger and larger. The average American woman owns 4X the amount of clothes as her grandmother, but continues to purchase. The average American home has 300,000 items inside it… and yet Amazon arrives on our doorstep several times each week.
When more is the goal, we will never find contentment. More is always a moving target. Never fully attainable.
We live life with only two options:
1. We can continue to pursue more. We can believe there is a better life waiting if we were just to acquire more money, more property, more fame.
2. We can reject the false notion that more is needed to discover happiness. And we can find contentment in our circumstances and gratitude for the blessings we already possess.
The choice is yours.
As for me, I’ll choose contentment with less.
This should be read some day
At a flock meeting
Be debt free. Stay away from any dealings involving interest.
Live in the present moment, because in future, there is no guarantee if the situation around you or you yourself would remain the same.
We knew this already through teaching from the Bible but no one gets taught this anymore. We live in a Vacuum empty of good religous messages. Who reads Shakespeare, he also teaches us the same. Teachings at school, our peers, government teach us nothing about the harm of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. We are only encouraged and taught to consume in this new world order.
No. I see yhe point about religion but that isn’t a 1 size fits all solution.
We knew this already through teaching from the Bible but no one gets taught this anymore. We live in a Vacuum empty of good religous messages. Who reads Shakespeare, He also teaches is the same. Teachings at school, our peers, government teach us nothing about the harm of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. We are only encouraged and taught to consume in this new world order.
“The choice is yours.
As for me, I’ll choose contentment with less.”
Yes, but *how*? I know this, intellectually, I feel this in my home. And yet I still find myself absentmindedly shopping…
I feel the same! We just did a spring cleaning in our house but I did not touch my clothing. I have way too much and just have come to the conclusion that I’m a t-shirt and jeans kinda gal and that will just have to be good enough. It’s hard to fix. I was trying to hold onto folders for the love of God because they were cute but I’ve had them for years and never used them. LOL! I needed my husband to help me let go of some things. I sound like a hoarder. Best to you!
I suspect this line gets to the crux of the issue:
“The richest man in the world, not satisfied, still in pursuit of more. More can never satisfy.”
I want to suggest that it’s not so much that “more can never satisfy” but “more of something not needed can never satisfy an unanswered need.”
If you are hungry, you may drink water, go for a walk, spend time with friends, read a book. You will still be hungry.
If you enjoy reading or walking, you may think: “I’m still not satisfied. But I’m good at this. I’ll do more of it.” You may then read several more chapters or walk several more miles. You will still be hungry.
The hard bit is identifying what you need: in this case it’s not fresh air or cerebral stimulation. It’s food.
Or we can embrace the idea that we will never achieve everything we want. Find contentment in not achieving more, but in the ability to achieve more, the ability to grow, that the things we enjoy don’t have to suddenly end. A movie comes out, we watch it, and it’s done, but there are more to come. We will never have all movies, but we can always have more movies, just as the target for more is always in motion, so is the future, to embrace that motion, and not settle is what makes life exciting, achievement is important to finding this contentment, but we have to learn to see achievement not as the end goal, but as another step in an exciting journey.
All the replies I have read are excellent and point to the unarguable truth that unless we become content within ourselves we will run out of natural resource, civilization as we know it will crash, and nature will have to try again,
I pray we realize but I am not holding my breathe,
We are the guardians of our world not its’ devourers