Whether we are buying the latest cell phone, car, or fad diet ingredients, the object is only complementary to our need to consume. All those things are the same. The same goes for food. The majority of people don't enjoy their food, that would imply contentment, fulfillment, understanding what it is composed of, what it does for the body, and being part of the natural process. Most people only like what they like because of taste, of something that distracts and distorts the senses. it doesn't matter if it is good or bad for them, everyone else does it so why not them? It doesn't matter that there are carcinogens, genetically modified organisms, anti freeze and thousands of other cancer causing chemicals in the food. That information is not appetizing to the consumer mind.
The same behavior is reflected in relationships. As we tend to only like what pleases our sense organs, the taste of food, the look of material, it is the same as being with someone because of how they look- or more deeply how they behave. Usually in relationships when one partner begins to better themselves or change for their own personal evolution, the other partner cannot identify with them and becomes displeased.
Most relationships are a form of co-dependency, a facade for low self worth. We simply become attached to the people we are with because of how they make us feel about ourselves, that is why if they change who we want them to be, we become dissatisfied. Beyond our relationships to others is our relationship to the world. If we hear things which seem displeasing, though informative, we cast it away. We say its too serious, or not important, or negative. We say people need to "enjoy life", or lighten up. Because it is not what we want to hear, because the happiness which is based on our distortions of what is really going on - we become dissatisfied once again. Enjoying life, would mean being aware of it, taking the good with the bad and realizing they are both part if the same learning process. And learning to be happy is the real lesson. How could you enjoy a movie if you have a blind fold on and ear plugs in? How could one enjoy life without knowing what is left if we cannot have the things to distract and entertain us? How can you enjoy life, when a life's worth of choices leave a person in a position for premature deterioration, and you know nothing about the wonders of your own biology and how to help yourself rebuild health? Then one day we look in the mirror don't like the image that is looking back at us, so we change our appearance, behavior and say we are now enjoying life. We change everything except the things that should be changed. We put a new costume on, but we are walking the same old path, eventually leading to the inevitable dissatisfaction we know so well.
We each have a different belief of what happiness is, the things which bring each of us joy varies. One mans heaven is another mans hell they say. Regardless of the details, some people realize it is selfish to only worry about what makes the self happy, to not know or care what lies beyond our limited sensations is an anti life attitude. Some people cannot feel happy, or sound if they know the things which make them happy, cause unhappiness to others. To not know if our resources and consuming alters the life of other people is to walk a fools path. Because ultimately we are only hurting ourselves. It take a strong heart and deep will to understand our happiness is not the only thing that matters and that if we wish to be considered by others, we must consider the happiness of others before ourselves. Change of material appearance does not relinquish the effect of addiction to substances which dull and distort true perception. Whether drugs, drinking or buying ourselves into happiness, it is all a task to cover the feelings in life which we cannot face.
All of our sense logic is irrelevant to the real world. It is a type of insanity to do the same things over and over, yet continue down the same path, never changing who we are at the core and expecting different and better results in this life. We want something out of this life that we not only cannot see ourselves, but don't want to work towards. To be asleep, to be locked into behavior where we consume through our sense without ever wondering who is profiting from our programmed behavior and more so not caring about the consequences it has on our mind and body, to me, is to be 3/4 of the way to being dead. To want life to work for us, but not work towards bettering or enhancing our lives, is insanity. How could one want this life to work out, or even enjoy it when life is identified by the life essence which animates your body, but which a person does not even take into consideration to promote or sustain? To want more than our own health, mentally, emotionally, physically is beyond ludicrous.
We are not materialistic, we don't need to find ways to enjoy life, become reborn- we simply need to grow up. And when we are no longer emotionally impacted or dependent on the things which make us feel good- when we realize the ridiculousness of needing things or people to make us feel feelings which are inside of our own body, we can realize there is a true part of our inner selves which is not responsive and compulsive to the programming of the world. It is composed of life experience, and deeper self knowing and can lead to more than temporary drunken happiness it can sprout liberation, latitude- freedom. The best way to know the shackles we place on ourselves is to take a break from sense gratification. If we can't go even one day without eating, hearing, seeing, feeling and thinking the things we believe make us happy and please us without getting upset- we don't enjoy those things but are simply imprisoned by them. And the freedom will feel like discomfort, much like an inmate who does not know how to live amongst the world after years of incarceration. Or a bird living in a cage all its life who cannot survive in the real world. We face ourselves, and once stripped of the masks and costumes we wear, of the dramatics and entrapment's of the mind, we are bare- open, vulnerable and real. Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want but the realization of how much you already have
