I started reading a book on the way home from San Francisco called The World’s Religions by Huston Smith. I’m still on the first chapter,which is on Hinduism, and I found this pretty interesting:

What People Want:

1. Pleasure. This isn’t a bad thing, according to Hinduism. The world is a beautiful and sensual place and we should pursue that which pleases us. This reminds me of kids partying it up in college. But eventually one gets to the point where that’s not all they want in life. So then they seek…

2. Worldly Success. This includes wealth, fame, and power. Again, not a bad thing – worldly success is needed to support a household and also fosters dignity and respect. This reminds me of adulthood when we go into the world of Work and try to make a name for ourselves and build our wealth. Again one might find this is not satisfying and so they seek…

3. Service to Others. In service to others there is a sense of belonging to something that is bigger. There is respect and gratitude from one’s peers and an internal feeling of self respect. Here I’m reminded of retirees doing volunteer work. But in the end even these rewards seen insufficient and so finally people seek…

4. What the REALLY Want. This is a feeling that there must be something more to it all. And, according to Hinduism, people then take the direction of what they REALLY want in life which is:

a) To be. We want to be here, on Earth, alive.
b) To know.We are insatiably curious about the news, about others, about ourselves, about our world.
c) To feel joy. We want the opposite of frustration, boredom, and futility.

So basically we go from wanting what we think we want (pleasure, fortune, and service to others) to wanting what we REALLY want.

And here’s the best part, we already have what we really want.

Just something to think about…