“Simplicity is vital for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have is vital.”
The Dalai Lama said this with different things in mind to what the average person might think about after reading it. For me I think of ridding my life of material things that might make me happy in the short term but may not have any real significance to my overall happiness. The truth is, I can agree with very little in this statement. The first item that came into my head was my ipod. OK it’s not exactly good for the environment or my dad’s bank account so the Dalai Lama’s got me there, but at the end of the day its just music. Is music a desire I should leave behind on my journey in the pursuit of happiness? Will ridding my life of music and the happiness it brings really help me feel satisfied? We live in a hundred mile an hour world, everything is here and now and ever changing. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time in Africa on expedition. What a culture shock. The school I stayed in was a huge community of friends, life was good. Their living arrangements may have been below average western world standards but whether they knew this or not, they had no desire to upgrade. No desire to travel. No desire for an unhealthy fast paced crazy life. It was slower and yet harder. I loved how they didn’t feel the need to leave the barren lands in search of wealth or fame. Until I met one girl. She was part of a group of students who danced for us. She was immensely talented and told me she dreamed of being a dancer. I told her to go and try to achieve this, she just sighed and said that this could never happen for her. A life of simplicity was all she knew.
Of course I can agree with the necessity to be satisfied with what you have. However I only agree with it because I’m sitting here, writing this piece on my shiny laptop in a warm cosy house sipping tea. Of course I should be grateful. What about the starving child in a slum or the victim of...