Reflection

The chances are, if you're reading this, that you, like me, are one of the most fortunate people who ever lived. In material terms, you're better off than almost anyone who lived more than a century ago: not quite so much precious metal or land, perhaps, but better quality food in excessive quantities; a more comfortable bed; enough drinking water to swim in; more clean clothes than you know what to do with; books, music and other entertainments to occupy you for weeks, months or years; the whole internet to browse; most of the world reachable within 24 hours and almost instantaneous communication with almost everyone you know; good health or support for your infirmities; educated and a skilled user of the most powerful communication tool known to man, the English language...

But this isn't an exercise in counting your blessings. The question is: where does your discontent come from? I'm tempted to suppose that it is ultimately true that we are never satisfied. But why? Because we have an in-built appetite for improving our situation. When we evolved, there was no advantage to limiting this appetite; only recently (in evolutionary terms) has it started to kill us.

Of course, we can transcend this instinct: decide to seek more balance in our lives, a different kind of fulfilment (ponder that word). But there's a problem: the appetite doesn't go away. Whatever you do, this appetite will not go away. And if you master it or ignore it, it is liable to find an expression, possibly a neurotic or psychotic one!

That's not a very upbeat point at which to conclude. And a more positive perspective on this appetite is to give it its traditional name: hope. Hope is the instinctual belief that one's situation can improve, where "improve" means that the distance between the actual and desired situation is reduced. A change in perspective is required as this gap gets smaller. We need to focus less on the gap and more on the proximity. That is, we need to avoid accidentally taking two steps back to move one step forward. And we need to recall the greatest truth: the desire too can change, though it cannot simply be denied.