AOM Meditations: 020119

Prometheus by Boris Vallejo

~*~

“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.” 

~Dan Millman 

(Way of the Peaceful Warrior)

~*~

“A fool is ‘happy’ when his cravings are satisfied. 

A warrior is happy without reason. 

That’s what makes happiness 

the ultimate discipline.” 

~Dan Millman

(Way of the Peaceful Warrior)

~*~

"The newspaper ad showed photographs of two boats:  One was an extravagant cruiser splashing boldly through a small wave.  The other was a simple rowboat with two oars.

The cruiser, indicated the ad, was what you'd have if you did business with that financial service provider.  The rowboat was what you'd have if you did not.

Though deceptively simple, the ad illustrates the materialistic equation that tugs at our hearts, minds--and souls--each day:  the idea that bigger is better.  The idea that something garish is better than something simple.  The idea that something fast is better than something slow.  And--no pun intended--the idea that if we do not choose big, garish, and fast, then we're somehow missing the boat.

At its root, the ad wants you to feel unhappy, discontent, lacking, inferior, temporary.  Because materialism--in essence, the doctrine suggesting that things, not relationships, make the world go around--is a replacement for something else.  And when we're content with that something else--the something else you can't buy with a credit card--we won't need to adorn our lives with the unnecessary goods and services being flashed before us at every turn."

~Bob Welch

(The Things That Matter Most)