To what extent does wanting drive our life? I have reached the point in my life where I don’t want anything. I have everything I need. I fully expect that I have less than ten years to live, and perhaps less than five. If I stay exactly where I am with possessions and finances for the next five years, I won’t need anything else. And I do not anticipate wanting anything for the next five years, and declining health will likely be the only thing that touches that. But not many people in the world today can say they don’t want anything, that they have everything they need. Wanting drives the world. It is the foundational principle that keeps everything going.
How well could we live without wanting? How could we reduce our wanting to a bare minimum after our basic needs for food, clothing and shelter are met? What would that do to the economy? To our peace of mind? Our happiness? Our sanity? To what degree do we have to want more than we need to keep things going around the world?
Jesus said, “The love of money is the root of all evil?” But how much money would Jesus have said that everyone needs? How much money, in an annual income, does everyone need? And how much more than that do “Quality of Life” considerations require? How much less that that can we live on and still live well? If we cannot pay our monthly bills, we likely have addictions that are syphoning some of our income away “Just to get by,” when we are not getting by.
