What is "satisfaction?"
The Buddha got it right...
The photo maps the projected movement of all galaxies since the imagined inception of the “universe” 13.1B years ago; my intent is to suggest the scale of what there is…
In the 6th c. BCE there was a monarch of a small land in the Himalayan foothills of what is now India who had a son named “Siddartha Gautama”
As an adult that boy, in addition to declaring his atheism, developed an interpretation of what causes human problems
He left his homeland & began to lecture publicly on his interpretation & on the method he proposed to achieve the best life
Gautama called this method the “Eightfold Path;” it consists of a list of principles for avoiding the problems that afflict being human
The “path” is not a religion, but it’s appeal & its spread led to his being called “Buddha,” which is to say: “one who is enlightened”
The Buddha himself said the problems we suffer arise from dukkha, which is usually translated “suffering” but more accurately means dissatisfaction
“Dissatisfaction,” the Buddha said, arises from “attachment,” which means “wanting” or “desiring”
If “satisfaction” is the contrary of “dissatisfaction,” it must require abandoning desire
In practice—& the Buddha insisted “practice” was essential—this entails both not wishing things otherwise & accepting what is
I compress both of these practices into the motto: Embrace change
For another of Buddha’s insights is that there is only change
This teaching makes the fundamental point that nothing is permanent
So to think of being satisfied as having what you want is a mistake, because we can never have anything, in the sense of keeping any thing
On this account, satisfaction requires something like being content
At the age of 89, which I am now, I confess I must remind myself each morning that, whatever my afflictions, I can live one more day
Ultimately, that’s as long as anyone has to live…
tears still drying in my eyes from the frustration of dealing with the insurance / hospital billing company, which offers no real ‘satisfaction’ for my pain and suffering, but charges me handsomely for it. My paycheck to paycheck dilemma shows me that my desire to be out of the debt hole is a chimera. The next moment I’m reading your post, reminding me of the Buddha and the ‘nothing is’ — feeling foolish for the degree of my emotions, especially those I spat at the hapless billing department phone girl. ha. regret. failure. embarrassment. all wash over me, as I let that damn insurance bill ‘get to me’! This too shall pass. What is out my window now, is the breeze playing a song on the leaves of the maple tree, the bird songs. Those things, they do seem eternal, relative to my stupid plight. Thanks. Just these little reminders… help interrupt the self flagellation of anger and fear. A few deep breaths and I can blow them off my hands. TY
Thank you,John. Here's to living one more day!