There is an old Sufi teaching story (they’re almost always old) about a woodcutter named Mushkil Gusha who, amidst various travails, is told: “If you need enough, and want little enough, you will have delicious food.” When he remembers this, it’s a big help amid the turmoil of his life.
This axiom is an important touchstone for me and it has, I believe pretty wide application to both individuals and our society as a whole.
One way I use this advice is to recall that I have appetites and desires, often driven by unconscious motivations and memories. They’re easy to get lost in and surrendering myself to them is momentarily fulfilling: another slice of cake, another hour of games or TV, more sex, more opportunities to be applauded by others who can’t help but recognize my genius…(you get the idea). What of these wants/needs is real and what are ephemeral? If I can answer that question, I will get closer to wanting “little enough.”
On the other hand, I have a long and deep history of not taking care of myself, of deferring and demurring, of giving in to others (whether friendly or demanding or asleep). In other words, in these ways, I don’t “need enough,” and I starve myself (of food, of opportunities for fun and growth), I give up “my” time, with the result that I can be silently resentful, and unhappy.
There is a fine (for me, as yet unaccomplished) art of figuring out the right balance: when to say yes and when to say no. If I can find it, so Mushkil Gusha tells me, I will have the right amounts of self in the world or, in other words, “delicious food.” Most spiritual traditions have some version of this principle; Western philosophy urges me to “know myself,” Buddhists say that attachment to the world and things is the road to suffering.
The same is true at a macro/societal/global level. There are signs all around that we have succumbed to appetite. Genetically-driven accumulation of fats and sugars have produced a global population of one billion (+/-) physically obese people. It’s a dire situation even before we get to the moral dimension of the presence of hundreds of millions who are starving.
Capitalism (i.e. the epistemology of viewing the world through money and markets) has leveraged the perennial human foible of greed so that the personal accumulation of economic resources is so far beyond the needs of individuals (even if assessed at a level of a fair amount of luxury) that it’s mind-boggling. There are about 8B people in the world. Estimates of total global wealth are north of $600T, or an average of about $75,000 per person (the US figure is well over $500,000 per person). The differentials are not just a few Bezos-sized yachts, or even five-figure Birkin bags. This is the foundation of claims for social justice in this country and the world and a great reason to tax inheritances at a high level. It is also a framework within which to view much of international economics and politics, not to mention the history of Western domination of the world across the 19/20Cs. The wants/needs differential, when accumulated across global populations, produces its own set of dysfunctions.
But tops-down policy perspectives will only get us so far. There is no reason I have to wait for global socialism to make moves in the right direction.
The combination of media hype and technological acceleration has only exacerbated the situation. The speaker in my computer (to which I am listening now) is far better than the one I had in various component stereo systems I had “back in the day.” It is, however, not “state-of-the-art.” Do I “need” an increment more of high fidelity (especially at the cost of some cash, more cables/plugs, and more things to keep track of)? The frenzy of acquisition around the “iPhone de jour” echoes the middle-class practice in mid-20C Detroit (where I grew up) of trading in one’s car every two or three years in order to get the latest model. I feel the same about “fashion” and the fetish of food endemic here in the Bay Area but also wide-spread wherever folks with “more money than sense” gather. Recognizing my own proclivities in this regard is the first step; then, making conscious choices is the next. Smug (usually implicit) self-indulgence is my enemy here.
The flip-side is self-righteous denial. I have to be wary of that part of my personality which thinks I’m not “good enough” to deserve whatever bounty or benefit is currently at hand. It’s been easy for me to fall into the trap of over-rationalization and self-deprivation; to count pennies and forget the scope and opportunities of my life without solving all the problems of the world.
I don’t need to don a simple robe and live in a monastery. I enjoy a good steak, but beef sucks up a huge amount of the global water supply. Living a luxurious life is delightful and comfortable and fun. It also makes it more difficult to be aware of those who can only spend in a year what it costs for two people to dine at one of SF’s top restaurants.
I’m still working on the psychological sources of my attitudes, but in the meantime, I have to sail between Scylla and Charybdis. The only way through is calmly considering the choices I make. Mindfulness is not just a matter of meditation, but of day-to-day decisions on how to spend my time and money and attention.
What to emphasize, then, in my life: charitable giving will make a dent, as will doing good in the world. Human connection, intellectual sparks, and a sense of accomplishment are, for me, the delicious food.
This axiom is an important touchstone for me and it has, I believe pretty wide application to both individuals and our society as a whole.
One way I use this advice is to recall that I have appetites and desires, often driven by unconscious motivations and memories. They’re easy to get lost in and surrendering myself to them is momentarily fulfilling: another slice of cake, another hour of games or TV, more sex, more opportunities to be applauded by others who can’t help but recognize my genius…(you get the idea). What of these wants/needs is real and what are ephemeral? If I can answer that question, I will get closer to wanting “little enough.”
On the other hand, I have a long and deep history of not taking care of myself, of deferring and demurring, of giving in to others (whether friendly or demanding or asleep). In other words, in these ways, I don’t “need enough,” and I starve myself (of food, of opportunities for fun and growth), I give up “my” time, with the result that I can be silently resentful, and unhappy.
There is a fine (for me, as yet unaccomplished) art of figuring out the right balance: when to say yes and when to say no. If I can find it, so Mushkil Gusha tells me, I will have the right amounts of self in the world or, in other words, “delicious food.” Most spiritual traditions have some version of this principle; Western philosophy urges me to “know myself,” Buddhists say that attachment to the world and things is the road to suffering.
The same is true at a macro/societal/global level. There are signs all around that we have succumbed to appetite. Genetically-driven accumulation of fats and sugars have produced a global population of one billion (+/-) physically obese people. It’s a dire situation even before we get to the moral dimension of the presence of hundreds of millions who are starving.
Capitalism (i.e. the epistemology of viewing the world through money and markets) has leveraged the perennial human foible of greed so that the personal accumulation of economic resources is so far beyond the needs of individuals (even if assessed at a level of a fair amount of luxury) that it’s mind-boggling. There are about 8B people in the world. Estimates of total global wealth are north of $600T, or an average of about $75,000 per person (the US figure is well over $500,000 per person). The differentials are not just a few Bezos-sized yachts, or even five-figure Birkin bags. This is the foundation of claims for social justice in this country and the world and a great reason to tax inheritances at a high level. It is also a framework within which to view much of international economics and politics, not to mention the history of Western domination of the world across the 19/20Cs. The wants/needs differential, when accumulated across global populations, produces its own set of dysfunctions.
But tops-down policy perspectives will only get us so far. There is no reason I have to wait for global socialism to make moves in the right direction.
The combination of media hype and technological acceleration has only exacerbated the situation. The speaker in my computer (to which I am listening now) is far better than the one I had in various component stereo systems I had “back in the day.” It is, however, not “state-of-the-art.” Do I “need” an increment more of high fidelity (especially at the cost of some cash, more cables/plugs, and more things to keep track of)? The frenzy of acquisition around the “iPhone de jour” echoes the middle-class practice in mid-20C Detroit (where I grew up) of trading in one’s car every two or three years in order to get the latest model. I feel the same about “fashion” and the fetish of food endemic here in the Bay Area but also wide-spread wherever folks with “more money than sense” gather. Recognizing my own proclivities in this regard is the first step; then, making conscious choices is the next. Smug (usually implicit) self-indulgence is my enemy here.
The flip-side is self-righteous denial. I have to be wary of that part of my personality which thinks I’m not “good enough” to deserve whatever bounty or benefit is currently at hand. It’s been easy for me to fall into the trap of over-rationalization and self-deprivation; to count pennies and forget the scope and opportunities of my life without solving all the problems of the world.
I don’t need to don a simple robe and live in a monastery. I enjoy a good steak, but beef sucks up a huge amount of the global water supply. Living a luxurious life is delightful and comfortable and fun. It also makes it more difficult to be aware of those who can only spend in a year what it costs for two people to dine at one of SF’s top restaurants.
I’m still working on the psychological sources of my attitudes, but in the meantime, I have to sail between Scylla and Charybdis. The only way through is calmly considering the choices I make. Mindfulness is not just a matter of meditation, but of day-to-day decisions on how to spend my time and money and attention.
What to emphasize, then, in my life: charitable giving will make a dent, as will doing good in the world. Human connection, intellectual sparks, and a sense of accomplishment are, for me, the delicious food.
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