R2R Reflections: Immense Wealth! Yet, still the "pursuit of more" ...
Blessed with the opportunity to experience anew the awe-inspiring beauty and wonder of America, in a great trip across the western part of the United States not too long ago, I am writing my first post on my thoughts.
Reflections cultivated driving 31 days and 4,984 miles across parts of 8 states - Colorado, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.
Image Source: PixabayAs one might imagine, dear reader, on my "road to recovery" (R2R) trip, this amount of "windshield time" gave me a very rare (very unlikely to be repeated) opportunity to think about a lot of different aspects of my long life.
In this first post (there may be more ... 😉), in my attempt to get the most important of them written down, I want to "talk" about wealth, prosperity and ... the importance of contentment!
Immense Wealth
From my long experience in life and the opportunity to see many parts of not only America, but many other countries, I find it relatively easy to "see" wealth all around us. This trip was, in a manner of speaking, a bit of "sensory overload," given how much I experienced over a relatively short period of time.
So ... The heightened awareness of what is easy to take for granted, brought back a lot of memories. Fresh opportunities to think about this important topic.
Image Source: PexelsWe all have different perspectives on what wealthy means. As a starting point on consensus, perhaps we can agree whether or not we have available to us the "fundamentals:"
- A roof over our heads to shelter us from "the elements" - so, as a result, we are seldom too hot or too cold, but "just right" ...
- Ready availability of nutritious food - so "hungry" means it's about that time again. To eat another meal ...
- Variety of well-made clothing - so "covering ourselves" is not a problem at all. And we have a rich diversity of options from which to choose ...
Image Source: PexelsOn the first of these, I have stayed at the Fairmount Chateau on the incomparable Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada; the incredible "country club" accommodations provided for us while working at the El Teniente copper mine on the side of the Andes mountains in Chile; the remarkable downtown hotel in Stockholm, Sweden attending a world-wide convention a long time ago, etc. ...
On the second, I have been in remarkable restaurants across America and a number of other countries. Where the food provided was phenomenal. At times, at the expense of my employer. At other times, like this recently completed trip, at my own ...
On the third, well, you get the idea ...
Beyond that, where you live are you able to go into a kitchen or a bathroom and turn a tap for access to good, clean water? Hot water or cold? Either one is no problem? How about flushing a toilet to easily resolve the removal of one of those ... uhhh ... "basics" in life?
In short (I'm working on writing shorter posts ... 😉), I have been blessed to experience aspects of life which royalty in times past could not have enjoyed. It simply wasn't possible. Today? We take it for granted ...
So ... Surely we are, for the most part, content right?
The "Pursuit of More!"
NO!! For far too many of us anyway ...
Given all of this immense wealth all around us, what is it about "the human condition" that we still want more? We want to be "happy!" We're almost happy, but ... If only we can experience our latest, greatest "plan" coming together. The way we want (not need) ...
Image Source: PixabayWhat we'll end up with will be ... Bigger ... "Better" .... More! Then, we'll be happy for sure! Right?
Image Source: PixabayYes, well, dear reader, I would suggest the answer is no. The "pursuit of more" is insatiable ...
Definition of Insatiable: "Incapable of being satisfied ..."
And, God knows, I have spent enough of my life in this vain pursuit myself to speak with a little ... uhhh ... "authority" on the topic.
How about closing with a word from the greatest authority on this topic who ever lived? Who might that be? Solomon, the king of Israel, after the death of his father, David. About who this is written:
"... Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days."
1 Kings 3:12-13 - [emphasis added mine]
So ... What did the wisest and wealthiest man who ever lived have to say about our topic?
"All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 - [emphasis added mine]
For this "old warhorse," these words cannot be improved upon. The pride of men is their undoing. The wealthiest and wisest man who ever lived did not "read this in a book" somewhere, but wrote from his own life experience - all was vanity and striving after the wind ...
Closing
One of the many blessings of being an American is our heritage, immortally captured by these words in our Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Source: American Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 - [emphasis added mine]
Ahhh, yes ... The "pursuit of happiness" ... For this American, who is about American as it is possible to be, in my pursuit of happiness, I have a large and growing appreciation for the simple things in life (see my Steem profile). Growing even more after safely arriving home from this trip. It is an essential conviction of mine that my beloved and I will do well, for whatever number of days may remain to us, to have contentment as a central focus of them.
Why? The insatiable "pursuit of more" is ultimately unhealthy. And destructive ... As an act of our free wills, we choose to focus on the many blessings we have. And the simple things all around us. Which cost us nothing, if only we will open our eyes to "see" ... There will be more details to follow, on some developing details, but that is it for now.
Thank you for investing your time in reading my post, dear reader. I’d love to hear any feedback you may be inspired to provide.
Until "next time," all the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build up our Steem Communities and increase the value of the Steem blockchain! 👍 😊
Respectfully,
Steemian @roleerob
Posted using SteemPeak and “immutably enshrined in the blockchain” on Wednesday, 12 June 2019!
P.S. Hmmm. 1,432 words ... Goal was < 1,000 ... 😏 "Practice makes perfect" ...
Interested to read more of my “reflection” series of posts? Great!
- Reflections: Adding "Value" to the Steem Blockchain - Chapter 1
- Reflections: Curation and Pollination
- Reflections: My Life as a Hay Farmer
- Reflections: Adding "Value" to our Steem Blockchain - Chapter 2
- Reflections: Innocent until Proven Guilty!
- Reflections on the Future: BBC 2018 Conference in San Antonio, Texas
- Reflections: My "Road to Recovery" Trip
- Reflections: Officially retired ... Or am I?
- Reflections: Information "tsunami!" And ... No end in sight ...
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America is wealthy by world standards. Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.
Yes agreed @barncat ...
... and the quote you cite from Jesus an excellent one.
The point I have attempted to make in this post, however, is much, much broader than America. "Wealth" as I have defined it characterizes a good part of the world we live in today.
Yes, there are certainly regions that still don't enjoy these benefits. Of that I am well aware. For those who do, though, perhaps they'll find something worth considering here in what I have written ...
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STOPEach person has his definition of wealth. What for many is wealth and makes it happy, for others is not ... I was talking about it this week with my husband, specifically talking about happiness, for many ex-workmates of mine, it makes them happy to go to clubs and drink a lot. , I really do not see anything good or exciting and much less gives me happiness it ... so everyone has their perception of what happiness is ... for them.
I agree with you that many never satisfied.
There are simple things that make us happy, for example at this stage of my life, as a mother, it makes me very happy to see my girls happy, when I can give them a gift or some special food, and see their happiness that gives me a lot of happiness, I can also say that it makes me happy how God has manifested in our lives in the face of adversity, I feel privileged, and finally I can say that traveling gives me a lot of happiness, that stage we lived when my husband and I were newlyweds, and It really is one of the experiences that most made me happy, we met really beautiful places, here in Venezuela and in Europe, and although it is currently very difficult to travel, due to the situation we are going through in the country, I have the faith that we will return to live that experience, this time much better, with our princesses, and it will be wonderful to see how they enjoy it, I think the experience will be even better than before.
Yes @blessed-girl, wealth means different things to different people. No question. The central point of my post, though, is to “call out” a fundamental part of far too many of our fellow citizens that, no matter how much “stuff” people obtain, they are still not happy. They want still more … An insatiable drive and appetite…
Sadly, I am writing to one of my fellow Steemians who has experienced this in ways most of us have not. To what do your countrymen attribute their current crisis? From a distance and, therefore, certainly subject to being wrong, it would appear a majority of your people elected to vote into power someone who promised them “more” …
What was their state prior to being enticed with this promise? Terrible deprivation and want? Not from what I have read, as Venezuela was considered to be the wealthiest of the South American countries at that time. But … Still it was not enough …
I admire your faith in the midst of your great difficulties @blessed-girl. I hope to “be around,” when you are able to write that what you are currently going through is indeed behind you. And that your people, having learned a hard lesson from their recent past, are truly …
Amén.
I can identify with what you say. So I only throw in some additive thoughts:
Somewhere I once picked up (I think it was Alan Watts) that writing down principles is actually inauspicious. Every manifesto, every law that became written and went down in history in a legible way is more of a problem. The unsaid, the "so understood", is much better suited for adhering to ethics and benevolent cooperation than what is written as law. Have you ever had to deal with law texts? Then you will know that every word, every passage cannot be interpreted absolutely. As far as a law/principle is written, it can be challenged, misunderstood, misinterpreted according to its loopholes. But if I don't write something down, but tell it in the form of a story or a poem, as the listener I know what is meaningful about it. But as soon as I try to put it into words of interpretation, I often lose the deeper meaning, limit myself, because all definition automatically excludes what lies outside the definition. A poem or a legend already tells everything that the individual understands by it. The transmission of the message it contains deteriorates when I make an analysis out of the poem and an enumeration of factual information out of the narrative. Legal texts try to make the impossible possible and yet they manage to complicate relationships rather than facilitate them. Thus we get an interpretation of the interpretation of the interpretation.
Which is not to say that the writings of the forefathers would be bad. Rather, I believe that it has received its strength through rituals accompanied by poetry, music and aesthetics. That which amazes me speechlessly, that which makes me silent, is what I can see in the pursuit for happiness.
Thank you for investing your time in writing this response to my post @erh.germany. Before I comment, I am curious whether there was any particular part of what I have written, which prompted what you have to say here.
:) Reading your post brought this thoughts to me. Sometimes it's not a direct reference to the content of what someone publishes. I think it was the mentioning of the American Declaration which triggered me to talk about written principles. In particular the "pursuit of happiness" can be misunderstood in the way people want to live. Other than that, I think joy can be found in the most simple ways. Which, I think, was your message as well.
Greetings from Germany/Hamburg
I appreciate learning we agree on the value of gratitude for the simple things in life @erh.germany. In our "pursuit of happiness" ... 😊
Further, we can agree written principles can present their challenges. The older they are, the more important historically accurate context can be. Our Supreme Court, for example, spends all of their time getting this right. To the best of their ability ...
As a Christian man, however, I would never reject the written word. Since God elected to communicate with us in this manner. At the risk of being irreverent, in our modern era we might ask why we couldn't have a series of YouTube videos instead ... 😏
Seriously, I have reflected more than once over what I hold in my hand, when reading the Bible. I do not profess to be wise enough to know ...
Thanks again for sharing your perspective @erh.germany. Greetings from an international airport in the western U.S., as I wait to board a flight, with my beloved life mate, to see our children in the eastern U.S. ... 😉
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I think what I wanted to convey was that if you want to integrate the written for yourself too much and bring it into everyday life, it can often come to narrowing and disturbances, because you want to enforce the principle too much, no matter how honourable. Whenever I want to force a certain rule too much in my relationship with my son, think regulations too rigidly, try to subject what I do to a constantly recurring pattern, it rather turns into the opposite.
The scriptures, no matter whether they are the Bible or other legacies, I have noticed, are rather something in their meaning existing in the background, less that one walks with them through the front door and wants to teach it to someone who has not asked for it. The richness of meaning is rather dedicated to the unspeakable, to that which cannot be explained so precisely, if one tries it, one realizes that it does not succeed. I would therefore agree and say that written remains are valuable. Something that reads and feels right can simply be quoted and passed on in the same way. But when you try to categorize and analyze it, often only a weak version of the original comes out. I see it that scripts can inspire the artistic, which is why they are so popular. But only those who have the talent to do so are able to bring the writing light back into a writing form.
In my eyes, it has become a fashion to rattle after the valuable written traditions without reaching the depth that the creator or author reached. Particularly in the spiritual realm, the reader becomes impatient and publishes what he believes he understands as a kind of "how to..." or life instruction. The pearls want to be found in this stream of publications. ... Well, maybe that's quite good, because how else can you distinguish the beautiful from the ordinary?
Have a good time with your children.