The hedonic treadmill

Is it our greatest asset or our most fatal flaw? This perpetual and epicurean need for objects to obsess over, to fantasise about, to pursue with a fervour. The motive unlocks a chamber of things to be attained. One chases these yearnings with an almost self-destructive obsession. Yet the instant an urge is fulfilled, another one rises to take its place.

Life is made of this constant deluge of things and dreams at the edge of desire. Perhaps it is a fundamental state of existence: to forever be a nomad, moving from place to place, from thing to thing, from person to person. Inherent in all desires is their transience, their transigence, their mutability. No sooner is a desire consummated than the mind immediately fixates on something else that is lacking.

The mind is perpetually inundated with a stream of yearnings. The incessant tide of wishes is like a madman in the House that simply will not sit still, that is barely finished with his starter before demanding for the main course.

This agitation is the root of all suffering. For all our needs and wants, true contentment never seems attainable. We run

and run

and run

and despite all the movement and clamour, we seem to end up at the same place, staring once again into the insatiable void.