Satisfaction

Most often we think that satisfaction is an end product - something that comes along after all the work is done, or as a reward for living a good life. How often do we equate the notion of satisfaction with a lack of action? Nearly always, I'd say. The very word connotes a state of relaxation or idle happiness for many of us.

Probably the biggest surprise of all to me was that the longer I practiced economical living and read books on the topic, I found that I was more satisfied by the simpler pursuits I was discovering than I ever was by all the shopping and personal luxury items that I had previously considered such a treat.

A sage asked a physician how much of food he must consume daily. He replied: 'The weight of one hundred coppers will be enough.' The sage queried: 'What strength will this quantity give me?' He replied: 'this quantity will carry thee, and whatever is more than that, thou wilt be the carrier of it.' ‘Eating is for living and praying. Thou thinkest living is for eating.’

Maintenance of life depends on food, but it brings on disease when eaten in excess. If thou eatest rose-confectionery without an appetite it injures thee, but eating dry bread after a long fast is like rose-preserve.

Time and time again the heart re-evaluates its meaning and purpose. And with a little greed, anger or resentment the meaning may suddenly shift. What was once a simple joy and satisfaction is no longer fulfilling. The heart's satisfaction is lost as personal meaning shifts.

A traveller lost himself in an extensive region having neither any strength nor food left. He possessed some money but roamed about the road leading him nowhere. Hence, he perished from exhaustion. Some people afterwords discovered his corpse with the money in front of it and the following written on the ground:

‘If possessed of all the gold, it will avail nothing to a hungry man. To a poor man burnt in the desert, boiled turnips are more valuable than pure silver.’

Satisfaction is not hard to attain, yet if one's personal meaning does not drive one's life, one is robbed of true satisfaction. 