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.
Andrew says
Thank you Joshua for simple but utterly valuable, essential and intrinsic truth. An honest introspective appraisal of myself reveals that almost at all times of emotional turmoil, dissatisfaction, suffering or conflict it has been related to desire and wanting more than what is necessary. A thought-provoking person once said “A ‘sin’ is something which is not necessary.” How easy it is to forget the essential and be distracted by the non-essential today. If only we could all wake up to the situation we find ourselves in and accept and surrender to the truth we face that awaits us, then “more and more” might seem shallow and essentially pointless, ridiculous and even better a point of social ridicule and embarrassment.
If only enough of us became simple enough to let it sink deep into our beings in quiet peaceful resignation that the quest for “more” (wealth, power, sex, fame, adoration, information) is empty and is like the Greek myth of Sisyphus rolling a boulder up to the top of a hill, only to have it roll back down, for eternity. Life cannot be linear…. a straight line. Life, existence given enough time is curved, circular. Peace comes with knowing perfection is achieved not when there is more to add but when there is nothing left to take away.
Now how to keep that present in consciousness at all times?
Dividend Power says
It is tough to always live your life as a ,minimalist though. There is such as thing as too much frugality to the point of austerity.
Irudayam says
Whenever a person becomes obsessed with success and material things, he quickly becomes restless. The proud and greedy never rest; the poor and humble in spirit rest in great peace. Anyone who is not completely free from the grip of his own vanity is easily tempted and is toppled by small, trifling things.
-The Imitation of Christ-
Meru says
Love this comment as much as the post!!! So true.
Susan Joiner says
…’The proud and greedy never rest; the poor and humble in spirit rest in great peace.’ …
Broadly speaking it may be true that the proud and the greedy are seldom.. at… peace.
However during my longish life, of the few I have known to qualify for the noble description ‘humble in spirit’, rest in great peace has yet to come. And of the poor…I have known of none habitually resting in great peace.
But, you and the writer you quote will know others… the sharing of these mutual experiences has value, …and the matter requires more thought. SJ
Katelyn Riederich says
Love this excerpt!
Mark says
You’ve made some great points. You are dead-on right. The thirst for always wanting “more” is unquenchable if you follow down that track.
Varvara says
Dear Joshua, I`m extremely grateful for all your work, your blog and your books that have helped me to become who I am and create the home that makes me happy.
This article gives a lot to think about, and one of the first questions that I ask is this: what if I always want more as a minimalist? I keep clearing my house of unnecessary or outdated stuff, so I want MORE clean surfaces, MORE things I love that are not “just in case”, MORE organized storages.
Does that show the same thing you describe in the post? Lack of contentment?
joshua becker says
Maybe.
Meru says
I think the lack of contentment will follow us in everything we do. As long as we feel like it? Or as long as we tell our brains it feels like that with our actions like the constant removal of stuff and never being satisfied with the amount of that. I have a list of toiletries and the right amount of wardrobe items on my phone, the perfect amount of stuff that I am content with. My little thing is as long as I don’t run out of any items I don’t purchase or replace them with anything. It applies for even my parfume. One of each is enough. Ofcourse with clothes is a little more than say one dress or one jumper but you get the idea. So…
David @ Filled With Money says
The thing about our wants is that it’s endless. Whenever we have and get something, we are always looking for what more we can have.
Acquiring more money and wealth is an endless battle and war that has no winners or losers. The game is continuous and will continue even after we are all gone.
Therefore, by wanting less, all of that problem is solved.
Eddie G says
Well said! Thanks for sharing.
Alessandra says
I understand being content with less. I agree and I choose this way, too. But how? I find myself wanting more, I accept this feeling and I tell myself that this “more” is not needed. I would like to reach the status where I am truly fully content with less and I don’t feel I want more, but I really don’t know how!
Kevin says
For me as a Christian, wanting less is bigger then me. For me I need it to be for a bigger reason then just myself. For me knowing that only God can satisfy my wants and he is my satisfaction. After that everything els does not look as satisfying.
rita bendler says
I truly enjoyed the article. Less is always more- or – less is best but as a Christian I have found that until a person fills the void in their life with the Lord Jesus we will always want something more. A void not filled is like always having a candy or ice cream (what ever it is) over and over again constantly trying to fill the void or that emptiness- gotta have and still void is not filled. Only God can fill the void. We were made with that void/emptiness purposely so we would turn to the Lord . That void is God calling his children home to his arms and healing heart. Thank you Rita
Thank you
joshua becker says
Here you go: Contentment: How to Find This Unmistakable Freedom
Kim says
Have you ever read the book “a year without a purchase”? Before I ever heard the word minimalism, I ran across this book by Scott Dannemilker. The $$ saved can be used to help others besides freeing ourselves. A great example is the Hope Effect you founded, thank you for being a living example of your faith
Mollie Donghia says
Great thoughts. Wanting more (things, money, time, etc…) is so hard to break the ongoing cycle, unless we make a valiant effort to be content and resist the urge to want more. There’s got to be a mark at which we are truly content and not want just a little bit more. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa says
This is so true especially in our culture of instant gratification except it’s fleeting. Your uncluttered course has been amazing and it truly addresses this need for more especially in week 10. Thank you so much for helping me want less.