Verse ThreeNot exalting the gifted prevents quarreling.
Not collecting treasurers prevents stealing.
Not seeing desirable things prevents confusion of the heart.
The wise therefore rule by emptying hearts and stuffing
bellies, by weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.
If men lack knowledge and desire, then clever people will not try to interfere.
If nothing is done, then all will be well.
~ Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English translation ~
What is the "meaning of life?" In the western sense, it appears to be about consumption, wealth power and prestige. But the problem with obtaining such things is that, once obtained, they must be protected, lest nature or people take them away. And how are such things protected? With mores, laws, police, courts, prisons and armies!
Yet, with all these forms of protection, the person who possesses such things STILL can't sleep easy. One must protect himself against competitors too. Beyond this, the possessor must also deal with worry and anxiety because enough is never enough. So, life turns into an endless struggle to obtain more and more because such a person can never be satisfied with what they have.
Even worse, despite having more than they know what to do with, this accumulation doesn't equate to happiness or contentment. Polling data bears this out. Individuals across all strata deal with unhappiness, illness and a lack of sense of fulfillment.
While it may appear at first blush that I'm solely referencing the rich and powerful, I'm really casting my net more broadly. Regardless of a person's economic standing, or social position, we each accumulate too many desires, too many baubles that we don't really need.
This is the beauty of the simple life. When we confine ourselves to what we need physically, emotionally and spiritually -- as opposed to what we want -- we soon find the ever elusive contentment. Life is no longer a struggle to keep up with the neighbors or to beat back competitors. We are able to free ourselves of the stress of protecting our largess.
We find we are more able to go with the flow because we aren't weighted down with desires that can't be met and accumulation that can't be protected.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
Yet, with all these forms of protection, the person who possesses such things STILL can't sleep easy. One must protect himself against competitors too. Beyond this, the possessor must also deal with worry and anxiety because enough is never enough. So, life turns into an endless struggle to obtain more and more because such a person can never be satisfied with what they have.
Even worse, despite having more than they know what to do with, this accumulation doesn't equate to happiness or contentment. Polling data bears this out. Individuals across all strata deal with unhappiness, illness and a lack of sense of fulfillment.
While it may appear at first blush that I'm solely referencing the rich and powerful, I'm really casting my net more broadly. Regardless of a person's economic standing, or social position, we each accumulate too many desires, too many baubles that we don't really need.
This is the beauty of the simple life. When we confine ourselves to what we need physically, emotionally and spiritually -- as opposed to what we want -- we soon find the ever elusive contentment. Life is no longer a struggle to keep up with the neighbors or to beat back competitors. We are able to free ourselves of the stress of protecting our largess.
We find we are more able to go with the flow because we aren't weighted down with desires that can't be met and accumulation that can't be protected.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
"Hidden in the world where nothing is lost", you have all things; there is nothing to lose and nothing to gain.
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