To take things for granted

I find it particularly interesting that either we’re innately psychologically engineered to or that our culture inculcates a certain dissatisfaction of our lives, nearly always irrespective of the suffering in comparison to others. Isn’t it interesting that the vast majority of us living in our posh and insulated first world countries are equally or more dissatisfied than those living in less privileged societies across the world? 

It just requires one step back, a moment of quietism and perspective to see our lives merely as they are, to liberate ourselves from this oppressive milieu that pervades our consciousness as members of this society, to detach ourselves from the norms and conventional modes of thought that manufacture this insatiable desire that incessantly prods and pesters our subconscious for more or better. 

Yes—it inevitably creates progress. It inevitably moves our society forward at an exponential, unprecedented rate of growth. But we have to also acknowledge that for some things, enough is enough. Not everything in our lives needs progress, improvement, change, and forward motion (or an illusion of it). Certainly, there are things that do need to change, that do need to truly be better. But if we never truly ask ourselves what all this is even for, then how can we know if our efforts are worthwhile? Is this really the kind of world we want to live in? Is this really the culture we want? Are these really the stories we wish to tell ourselves, even if they’re not making us happy?