Personal Response Paper to Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler’s: Inner Contentment
It is possible for one to be happy if they could not have everything they wanted and had to accept what they were given? There are many desires for things one can and cannot obtain. These desires can be good, useful, or cause problematic issues. They can lead to greed which can lead to people expecting too much in life. Even if one can obtain what they want, they may still not be happy. That brings the concept back to whether people can be happy even if they cannot have everything? Materialistic things do not fulfill peoples’ lives and are only representing temporary happiness, satisfaction, and pleasure. Eventually it runs out and the depression and lost feelings return, leaving one wondering what to buy next to fulfill that void. In Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler’s essay on Inner Contentment, they argue whether it is possible to have inner contentment. Inner contentment is not expecting things that can make one happy, but being happy with whatever is given, without expecting more. Life is just and everyone cannot have everything they want, they have to deal with what has been given and live life.
In the essay, Lama and Cutler state that “The true antidote of greed is contentment” (1002). What they were trying to say was that no matter what one has, one can still be content and happy. They argue that there are two ways to be content which are: to obtain everything one wants and desires, but eventually there will be something one cannot have. The other is to want and appreciate rather than to want. Lama makes a reference to how he loves going to the supermarkets because he gets to go and see all the many things. He explains how he develops a feeling and an impulse to buy. His initial thoughts are to buy it, but then it becomes, “Do I need this?” Rather than to buy and go penniless, he