I think it's in human nature to want to have more, to compete with the other and, at some level, to be dissatisfied if someone else has more than you.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the inherent human tendency to desire more and to compare oneself with others, which often leads to dissatisfaction.
Pico Iyer highlights a fundamental aspect of human nature: the instinctual drive to accumulate more and to engage in competition with others. This desire for more can result in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction, particularly when one perceives that others have achieved greater success or possess more than they do. It invokes a reflection on how such competitive instincts can shape our happiness and sense of fulfillment.
In practice
In a discussion on consumerism and societal pressures during a seminar.
Quitting, for me, means not giving up, but moving on; changing direction not because something doesn’t agree with you, but because you don’t agree with something. It’s not a complaint, in other words, but a positive choice, and not a stop in one’s journey, but a step in a better direction. Quitting-whether a job or a habit-means taking a turn so as to be sure you’re still moving in the direction of your dreams.
I think one reason, obviously, that I spend so much time in one place is that I've been lucky enough to travel a lot, and now there are other different, invisible trains that are more interesting to me.
I've never meditated in my life. I don't practice yoga nor any religion. I'm a tourist on the realm of stillness.
We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate.
I'm no Buddhist monk, and I can't say I'm in love with renunciation in itself, or traveling an hour or more to print out an article I've written, or missing out on the N.B.A. Finals. But at some point, I decided that, for me at least, happiness arose out of all I didn't want or need, not all I did.
The one thing perhaps that technology hasn't always given us is a sense of how to make the wisest use of technology.
Drink! for you know not when you came, nor why; Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.
If your religion doesn't respect the rights of other religions, it is lacking something.
There comes a time in every man's life when he's consumed by the desire to spit on his palms, hoist the black flag and start cutting throats.
Brittle masculinity, in the right setting, becomes political atrocity. Strength brings problems; weakness brings others, but weakness posing as strength is the most dangerous of all.
Where you find the attraction for lust and wealth considerably diminished, to whatever creed he may belong, know that his inner spirit is awakening.
Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.