My primary Writing.com blog. |
Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places: "The Soundtrackers Group" "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by! |
"Take up Your Cross" | November 22, 2024 ▼ I'm not sure that I see the concepts of contentment and "always trying to get more" as mutually exclusive. Contentment, to me, is about being in a state of happiness and satisfaction, while the desire to always have more can be either positive or negative depending on how much of a premium you place on it. For example, if ambition turns into greed or envy, and it's constantly convincing you that you don't have enough, or that you're not happy with what you have, that's definitely a problem and it jeopardizes contentment. If you spend all your time jealous about the fact that your friends and neighbors have better jobs, nicer cars, more attractive significant others, bigger houses, etc., then that's a deeply unsatisfying and disappointing life that you're going to live. But that doesn't mean that ambition has to become those things. Ambition on its own isn't a negative; it can be what inspires us to achieve more for the Kingdom, or to grow personally in any number of ways. If your ambition leads you to greater success in business and that connects you with more people you never would have met otherwise, is that discontentment? If you aspire to have more money so that you can buy a bigger house, but your intention is to use that house to welcome in people who are in need of a stable home, is that problematic? I think the real question is whether you can be both content and ambitious at the same time. Can you have larger aspirations or goals while at the same time being okay if you don't get those things? To me, that's the ideal place to find yourself; where your ambition spurs you to greater things, but you're secure enough to be content with what you have even if those ambitions don't ultimately come to pass. |