Why do we struggle each day?

Question

in other words, why can't we be satisfied? Why do Americans need the "best." Some people in Africa live only in a hut and are poor but they are satisfied and don't complain. What gives?

Answer 1

The want of more and more is the source of unhappiness, so says Buddha. We have to learn to recognize the selfish nature in us, ego, that always wants to be fulfilled and feel like a king. But this desire creates unhappiness. It's all culturally relative. If you showed a stack of $100 bills to an Aborigine, he wouldn't give a damn. It means nothing to him. But to us it means some value in our lives.

To learn the secret of being happy with less is really the key to happiness. Cultural influences, the buy and sell mentality of capitalism, tries to convince us that more is better. But the closer you come to reality, you realize what a waste of time it is to accumulate temporal material things when they all pass away as we are carried down a stream into eternal things.

It's all a matter of perception and the strength to resist the ways of an egotistical world.

Answer 2

Instead of just being driven to satisify our basic biological needs at a minimum level (African villagers), we're motivated to reach the highest level of satisfaction possible, just because we can (a privilege).

Example: When I get hungry, I develop a primary drive or motivation to eat something. If it was a minimal level of aorusal, I'd just grab some bread and be done with it. But why would I eat bread if I can eat steak or hamburger instead? I can satisify my primary need of hunger and enjoy the flavour at the same time.

In a case like this, the Africans were not given much of a choice, so the bread was sufficient... and they had since long gotten used to it. But modern city life-style demands the "best" if you want to survive. This is due to peer pressure from the people in the country and its demands. Want to live in a hut in America and be content with it? Yes, but in the perspective of medieval peasants and the like, you're probably just the witch or sorcerer that should be burned at the stake.

Answer 3

We claim we have 'needs' but they are artifical and generated by the mass media to sell stuff. No one 'needs' a brand new car; they can get a used one which might be five years old but works just as well. If there's public transit in your city, you don't really 'need' a car at all. The bus will do nicely. No one 'needs' brand new clothing, Goodwill and Salvation Army have good stuff available if you look for it. No one 'needs' an income of a million or more a year, but if you listen to some of the pro sports stars, you'd think they were starving to death.

You feel like you 'need' these things because your friends all have them and you feel impoverished if you don't have them, so it comes across to you as a 'need'. People have arguments over stupid things like xboxes, new stereos, tickets for a concert and how big a house they 'need' to live in.

Whatever you focus on becomes your god because you worship it.

Jesus said, "I am the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Answer 4

"Mentality", that's the word, and it kills alot. it is clear that he who is after his/her wants is like one chasing the wind. It has been and is.
"Greed" the brother word. And we forget that all this is vanity. always be content with what you have and the joy will come.

Get this Story:





One day a monk left his ashram and went out to the main street of the city, jiggling a few copper coins in the palm of his hand. As the beggars thronged around him, he announced that he would only give the coins to the poorest man in the city. As the demanding hands pressed him from all sides, he kept saying, “No, it is not you—not you—not you,” and he continued walking.

Suddenly the fanfare of trumpets obscured the noise of the city. Guards hurried down the street to clear away the riff-raff, and proclaimed that the Maharaja was coming out of his palace on his royal elephant.

The people lined the street with eager anticipation to make their obeisance to their king, but the monk stepped in front of the elephant, and, addressing the king in a loud voice, said, “O Great Maharaj! I have something for you.” And he tossed the copper coins to the king.

The king was astounded and demanded to know why the monk was being so impertinent.

“Your majesty, I made a vow that today I would give this copper coin to the poorest man in the city.”

“Me!?” screamed the king. “I own this city! I own this whole country! How can you say that I am the poorest man?”

“Because you have constant hunger for more possessions.”


This is the snare of maya, the cosmic delusion: the more we feel separated from God, the more we try to fill our life with possessions, which further deepens our spiritual emptiness. This constant rush to acquire more things, more sensations, more people, and more thoughts turns us from divine children to bestial paupers. “Poverty,” as Plato said, “consists, not in the decrease of one’s possessions, but in the increase of one’s greed.”

The solution is to embrace the simple life of inner renunciation. Be content with whatever we experience. If God blesses us with much abundance and opportunities – good. If God sends us Sister Poverty – good.

When we have learned how to keep the mind equally free from attachment or aversion, we have gained the real wealth of this world.

Answer 5

Desire.... We desire "things" we think will make us happy or that will keep us from suffering. But when we get those things, we find they don't hold what we were really looking for, so we desire more.

"If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is a law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality."
-- Dan Millman, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior

It's also a matter of attitude and perspective. A little story that illustrates this....

-- In a scientific experiment, two young boys were placed in separate rooms. One was put into a room filled with every toy imaginable. The other was put into a room hip deep in horse manure.

When the researchers looked in on the first boy, he was angrily going from toy to toy. As soon as he picked one up, he quickly tossed it away with complaints such as, "It's not big enough" or "It doesn't bounce high enough" or "It's the wrong color".

When they checked in with the other boy, they found him digging madly through the manure. They opened the door and asked him what he was doing.

He replied, "I'm looking for a pony. With all this horse crap, there's got to be one around here somewhere." --

Some of us see the negatives and some are able to see the blessings in life. It's all in what we allow ourselves to see as "having" enough to be happy.

Answer 6

Once we are above the subsistence level, our struggles are based on our frustrations, which are due to our higher expectations (obviously with the exception of traumatic experiences such as losing a loved one).
Different cultures have achieved human life above subsistence level and due to their cultural differences they have evolved different sets of expectations. I grew up in Europe and never expected to have a car at the age of 16 like I saw kids owning in American films (I'm aware that movies are not always true to life), hence I wasn't frustrated by my lack of a car.
Both American and European societies are becoming increasingly aspirational. The more we aspire to, the mopre frustrated we become. The desire to nullify this frustration is what drives our consumerism of non-essential items.

Answer 7

becuz life is a ***** and its not fair, money is our true enemy, we just need to let those idiots at Wastioning to think clealry and stop smokeing the drugs

Answer 8

I agree. We have forgotten what Paradise looks like.

Answer 9

Greed and pride

Answer 10

to reach in our aim.