On satisfaction...

The Rolling Stones might have been onto something when they wrote "I can't get no..." For it seems that the human condition in its three-dimensional, mentally-navigated, physical aspect is designed to, not only feel dissatisfied, but also, be stimulated to grow/improve/expand in response to that very basic hard-wired feeling of dissatisfaction that can never be satiated. This could be due to that very principle of expansion that is inherent to the making of creation, at least creation as we experience and understand it. Yes, that principle of creation... you know... the one that goes... well, in my book, it goes something like this: Every life form going through an expansive phase seeks to grow. One could easily say that what isn't growing is dying; dying simply being the antagonistic principe to expansion. Being complex, multi-dimensional, multi-layered manifestations of life -I suspect no different than anything else out there, except for the differences we choose to put between ourselves and the rest of creation, out of ignorance and fear- our impetus for growth has to also be complex, multi-dimensional, multi-layered. Something like a spider-like web of dissatisfaction, each line urging us to move away from the center, toward an endlessly receding periphery. We are driven to act. We are driven to reach for that ever-so elusive goal. A goal so elusive, it never holds the same shape, form or truth. The drive becomes a need to succeed, achieve, experience, be this, be that, have this, have that. Through association everything we can claim as ours adds to our sense of self; stuff, achievements, memories, stories, emotions... they all do the trick. By the same token, everything we can't claim gives us a feeling of diminishment, of not being enough, of dissatisfaction... After all, the web needs a periphery to hang from. I wonder what is so different between this condition of ours and that of a hamster racing in a wheel that never goes anywhere. Perhaps the most important difference is that the hamster, besides being fluffy and cute, doesn't choose to postpone its living fully and truly -enjoying what is- until some imagined future arrives as planned and as wished. The hamster lives joyfully in the present -maybe, after all, I never got to discuss this with a hamster. Moral of the story is, if one can call this a story, and could if one stretched her/his definition of a story: Enjoy the process, and don't worry about the destination. Spinning my mental wheels... I wish you a joyful landing in the now and here. Be the blessing