On The Border Between Desired And Fulfilled

Laitman_095Question: Egoism is our nature, our essence. Throughout the entire history of the development of humanity, our desires, that is, our egoism, has constantly grown.

It is enough to recall Pushkin’s fairy tale about the golden fish [similar to Grimm’s “The Fisherman and His Wife”], which illustrates the growth of desires and the immediate emptying after their fulfillment. What is the reason that nature constantly brings us to this state?

Answer: This is for us to want to catch a golden fish and use it a thousand percent because this is how egoism is developing in us.

Egoism, the hidden force of nature, pushes the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels and, mainly, humans, to the maximum fulfillment. However, in principle, it is impossible to achieve.

Question: Does it mean that fulfillment and the subsequent emptying of desires cause the development of greater desires in us? Is there some kind of limit to them?

Answer: Desires are limitless. Why should they be limited? If I want ten grams of some kind of pleasure and receive it, I am in a state of limitlessness, infinity.

Question: The fulfillment of our desires, which is achieved through many efforts, is felt only for a short time, and then disappears. Especially when it comes to basic desires: food, sex, and family. Why?

Answer: This is in order for us to go further and achieve more. There is a constant development of our desires. This is not just a repetition of the same desires since they  change slightly.

We feel greater desire all the time, and then greater emptiness, which is followed by an even greater desire for pleasure and even greater emptiness, and so on.

Question: The higher the quality of pleasure, the longer it lasts. Let us say that the pleasure of eating a meal lasts for a fairly short time. The pleasure of fame, for example, from winning a competition or from performing a concert, lasts, as psychologists say, even for a few weeks. What will it lead us to in the end?

Answer: To the fact that we will want a lot and then we will finally realize that the desire by itself does not fulfill us because the pleasure that comes and fills the desire immediately leaves it empty.

Question: Yet, the pleasure of communicating with friends fulfills much more than from eating a meal or shopping. On the other hand, we see a lot of lonely people. Why don’t people sit in circles and communicate with each other?

Answer: We cannot feel enjoyment all the time from the same fulfillment. No way. The nature of pleasure is determined only by the difference between what we desire and what we feel.

Therefore, there must be a constant renewal of the desire and, accordingly, a constant renewal of its fulfillment. Only in the case of the dynamic development of both desire and fulfillment and their constant complementing each other will we feel pleasure.

In fact, desires and fulfillments are purely mechanical data. It is their change, when you are on the border between what you want and what you are fulfilled with, that gives you a sense of pleasure.

Question: So we are arranged in such a way that we can enjoy only for a few moments?

Answer: Only for a moment!
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/23/20

Related Material:
The Indefatigable Growth Of Egoism
Evolution Of Desires, Part 3
Egoism And Pleasure Are Incompatible

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