If You have Peace of Mind, You're Already Rich
If You have Peace of Mind, You're Already Rich
Three Point Essay #36 | Rat Race, Desires, and the Vast Universe
Here’s a three-pointer to open your mind.
A Poor Sucker
It happened!
There is an American man named Jasper Jenkins. An ambitious man he is.
“Once I graduate college, then I’ll stop worrying all the time and be happy”. He tells himself.
Obsessed with making money, Jenkins works 80 hour weeks at his new office job.
“Once I get that raise, then I’ll feel fulfilled at last.” He tells himself.
He gets promoted in his company. “Once I become CEO, then I’ll be finally able to enjoy life.” He tells himself.
Leaving work one day, Jenkins walks by a man mediating outside under a tree. The man works for a rival company.
Jenkins shakes the man. “You clown” he says. “This is why you guys will never be as wealthy as us.”
The man smiles at him and says “Peace of mind is the highest wealth.”
Jenkins responds “Actually, the highest wealth right now is 191.2$ billion, Elon Musk. And I’m not even close, but when I do get close, I will finally get rid of all this anxiety! Anyways I have to go, I need to put in overtime tonight.”
Jenkins sprints into the street. He gets hit by a bus.
Desires
If you’re reading this, you’re likely an intelligent and ambitious person. You have big dreams.
You want a lot. You’re in a constant chase to increase your wealth and status, to increase the quality of your life.
The race towards happiness!
But it’s the delusion of all delusions is that you’ll finally be happy when “x” happens. That the next shiny thing will at once bring you peace. This is how Jasper Jenkins thinks. This is an illusion.
Buddhism reminds us that our desires are the source of our suffering.
Naval Ravikant said that “Desire is the contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get that thing.”
By accumulating many desires, you sign many of these contracts. These contracts can destroy your happiness.
If you have too many desires, it causes mayhem in the mind. Limiting them is a superpower.
By Focusing on 1 or 2 things you want more than anything, and accepting everything else that happens, you free your mind in a powerful way.
He (The Buddha) was pointing to was the importance of operating out of a state of inner fulfillment rather than inner hankering. Once this is accomplished, your life becomes an expression of bliss, not a pursuit of it. Your desire does not evaporate; instead, it becomes conscious. Your desire is no longer the unconscious fuel for your personal identity. It is the conscious tool by which you function.
The crux of the matter, therefore, is identification with your desires. When you are no longer identified with your desire, when there is a distance between you and your mind, you simply do what is needed for the moment and for the situation. You learn to play with desire. The desires are no longer about “you” anymore.
—Sadhguru
You are Small
The less you obsess over your desires, the less you think about yourself.
It’s our default setting to feel like the center of the universe. But only ever thinking about yourself is self-destruction.
You lose sight of the fact that you are 1 of billions of life forms. On 1 of billions of planets. In 1 of billions of galaxies. In 1 of an infinite number of universes.
You don’t matter that much.
Knowing how small you are is magic for your mental health.
You assume your doubts, fears, and insecurities are unique. They’re not. Billions of other people have had, have, and will have the same exact ones.
You think you’re alone. You’re not. We are all human beings with similar problems, wondering the similar things.