How to Satisfy the Craving for More

I’m finally watching The Wolf of Wall Street because I’m doing research for my next book. It’s safe to say the movie is a study of excess. The characters want more, more, more. More money, more power, more prestige, more sex, more drugs. They are never satisfied. It’s easy to believe that’s only true for the likes of greedy capitalists, but not so.

My spiritual teacher says, “There is in the living being a thirst for limitlessness.” Elsewhere, he says, “No living being is content with a little, not to speak of human beings.” That means not just business people. Not just the wealthy. Everyone. Every living being. We all want an endless supply of everything. But what’s underneath the object or experience? What are we all actually reaching for? Happiness.

Everyone wants to be happy, and we all go about achieving it in various ways. And we don’t want a little bit of happiness. We want endless happiness. But here’s the thing – that’s not possible in the material world. As you’ve likely noticed, the material world is limited. There are only so many strawberries currently in season. Yes, we can grow more, but that takes time, and again, there is only so much land, water, and other resources available to grow them.

The same is true with anything you can think of – there’s only so much cocaine available; there are only so many books you can read or time/desire to read them; there are only so many songs you can sing before your voice gets strained. The human body, our sensory organs, have built-in limits. That means our thirst for limitlessness will never be quenched by limited objects. Our desire for endlessness is only satisfied by something endless. In my spiritual tradition, we say that Brahma, or God, or Cosmic Consciousness, or Higher Power, or the Divine Beloved, or whatever name you want to use, is that endless entity. And by thinking about or meditating on that limitless entity, that’s the only way to put an end to the thirst of limitlessness and endless happiness.

This limitless happiness is the bliss we’re all chasing, which is known as “ananda” in Sanskrit. Some people call it nirvana, or Shangri-la, or even heaven, but unlimited happiness is what we all seek. As a lifelong meditator, I can’t say that I’ve reached limitless happiness, but I’ve experienced it in short stints. I can also say the biggest difference in how I think and behave lies in understanding the need beneath the need.

I understand that a trillion dollars won’t make me happy. I know that eating an entire box of crackers will feel good in the moment, but later I’ll be left with a stomachache. I’m aware that traveling to some exotic location will be fun for a while, but the high will eventually wear off. It doesn’t mean I don’t still seek happiness in the material world – I do – but I know what’s going on, and I understand how to satisfy my craving for more.

I dream of a world where we recognize there exists within all of us a thirst for limitlessness. A world where we understand that each of us seeks unlimited happiness. A world where we recognize the material world will never fully slake our thirst. A world where we realize there’s only one way to satisfy our craving for more, and that’s to focus on something infinite.

Another world is not only possible, it’s probable.