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:hi:
What you are feeling is not uncommon.
We are conditioned by a steady diet of advertising and socialization to expect, even demand, certain things out of life. A spouse, 2.5 children, dog or cat and a house with a white-picket fence. Top it off with a car or two in the driveway (or garage) and maybe a backyard pool and viola!--the American Dream.
Then there is pressure to "keep up with the Joneses". Your (generic "you" here) neighbor gets a new SUV so you feel the need to do the same. Your high-def big-screen television has to be better than that of the Robertsons. Sooner or later your credit card debt is in the double digits.
But are you really happy? You have all the trappings of happiness according to societies teachings, yet you still feel unfulfilled. You begin to wonder where you went wrong, what else there might be.
Buddhism has a very logical explanation for this effect contained within the first two of their "Four Noble Truths". (This is not a treatise on Buddhism, but just a few points from it).
The First Noble Truth: Life contains dukkha. Dukkha is most commonly translated as "suffering", but it can also mean "dissatisfaction".
The Second Noble Truth: Craving and attachment cause dukkha. In other words, our constant craving for more, and attachment to things we are told (by society/advertising/people) to want causes us suffering and dissatisfaction. Instead of being happy with what we have, we are always wanting more, better, newer, etc.
Essentially people have been sold a bill of goods. Buy, consume, have and live-it-up and you will be happy! We are shown countless images of people "living the good life" and think if we get to where they are we too will be like they are. We work hard, buy things, forge relationships and the like. But when we get "there", wherever there is, we realize that the vision we saw in our heads isn't our reality. We aren't as happy as we expected.
To heck with the movies, the advertisements, the songs and the novels. Let's learn to be happy with life as it is, not as we are told it should be. :applause:
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