Less is more. What a bewildering statement. How can you ever understand what exactly this means if you have never experienced a situation where less is actually more? More times than not we will see that more is completely and utterly better than less. More money, more clothes, more twitter followers, more opportunities in life, more chicken tenders at lunch, and most certainly more beer on thirsty Thursdays. The only occasion where less sparks enthusiasm is when your professor assigns less homework.
Reading the fortune containing “a wise person cares not for what he cannot have but for what he can” I had a revelation. The only reason why more is so vital in our modern society is because we are not taught that you need more, but we are taught that you must strive for more. We need to want to have more to have a fulfilling life. We don’t necessarily need to have all that others have, but we have to have goals and dreams that we can achieve the more.
The “wise person” is not worried about the riches his neighbor posses. He is more concerned with the riches he can obtain by hard work. Sure the neighbors are motivation. But the individual who wants for him and his loved ones, not for the approval of others is more influential and eventually content with his life than the neighbor who finds it essential to purchase a new 60 inch television for every room in his home.
Regardless of class position, needing to want keeps people moving. The need of a mother to want her child to have the best educational pathway is crucial, both for the child and for the good of our society. Being “wise” is a hard concept to grasp. Maybe we should all just need to want to be wise, and then our wisdom will be handed to us without us knowing. More is always better, as long as it’s for the right reason.
People always want to be more sucessful, more rich, more smart, and etc. Me? Of course!
ReplyDeleteBut it is hard to think that becoming a better person or wise person is not about more or less.
This was a really interesting post to me. I'm in a philosophy class right, and these are the kinds of discussions that come up in class. Being in situations where I think about life and human nature, I completely understood where your thought process was coming from. I enjoyed reading your challenge of the saying "less is more," and the conclusion that wanting more is completely fine, when for the right reason. I think it is a more contemporary view of the world.
ReplyDeleteWanting is probably our nature. Wanting more food, clothes, even skills and knowledge. It does motivate people, even me. I agree. However, I think that it is important that sometimes it can even put someone under the influence of greed and envy, which can actually harm that person... I say that the need for wanting, it is something to consider balancing.
ReplyDelete