On having enough

American literary luminaries Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller were once at a party on Shelter Island, at the eastern tip of Long Island. 

This party was at a hedge fund manager's weekend house. The walls were festooned with fine art. The host had a gorgeous model as a wife. He was living, it seemed, the American Dream.

Vonnegut nudges his friend and says that their host makes more money in one day than Heller ever had or would from Catch-22. Heller nods and agrees. Then he tells Vonnegut that, however, he will have something their host will never have. 

"What's that?"

"Enough."

I host a monthly book club at my library. And in May we discussed Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. In the novel, Huxley predicted a world of mass, mindless consumerism, where the citizens of the World State were programmed to consume and consume and consume. Huxley extrapolated the nascent consumer culture which was being birthed at the time of his writing the novel to its logical conclusion. Consumption for its own sake. Consumption as the health of society. Consumption as replacing that God-shaped hole humanity has.

What does "having enough" mean?

For me, it means being content. Being content with what life gives you. Being content with what you can take out of life. Does that mean happiness? In a sense, yes. But it's more than that. 

I saw this post on Counter Social:

I think one of the most damaging aspects of modern society is the idea that you have to be Happy. As a baseline. Instead of appreciating awesome and delightful moments people search for the high that isn't guaranteed and only comes along occasionally. And are invariably disappointed. I just ate a piece of key lime pie and while it was a tiny moment of awesome and not enough to cause Happiness it's a Good Thing. I don't expect anything from the universe. Everything great is a bonus.

And I replied thus:

Rather than happiness, I search for contentment. Happiness means always having a smile. Contentment means being at peace with your life, with both ups and downs.

Having to be constantly happy is what Aldous Huxley warned us about. It's unnatural. It's unattainable. No sane human being can be happy all the time. If someone tells you they are eternally happy, they're lying. They just are. They may think they're happy, but what they're doing is suppressing anything which doesn't fit into that mold, by whatever means they must do so.

For me, contentment is both achievable and much more psychologically healthy. Contentment doesn't mean that I'm always happy. I have my downs, as you all know. But the lows don't shatter my world, because I know they will come. However, I'm still content, because I know my life's trajectory at this moment. I know that the base of my life is good, and can weather the storms which must perforce impact me. I have people who love me and whom I love. I have work which satisfies me. I don't have to walk around with a smile plastered on my face. I know when I'm up, and I know when I'm down, and that's just the cycle of life. 

Having enough means that you are not, in Biblical terms, coveting your neighbor. You are not in a race with those around you to get more, be more. You are whole in and of yourself. You don't have to chase the next thing, the next fad. You are not in the perpetual rat race to be dominant. Dominance is an illusion. What does it profit a man if he wins the world but loses his soul? Accolades are ephemeral; peace is eternal.

No one knows the name of that hedge fund manager. But Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut live on after they've left our mortal plane. That should tell you all you need to know about having "enough".

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