We have strange ideas about contentment and its relationship with the life of the individual. For as much as we might want modern westernized cultures to base their customs on philosophies of science and the secular, they are dominated by the religious zeal which birthed them.
What is contentment in Christianity? Some purveyors of the faith tell their congregations that contentment is not in the moment but in knowing God’s plan for one’s life and submitting to that path. In Christianity, contentment resides in the future, after death even, and can only be known in human life through psychological faith in mythological characters and obedience to the authority of social systems created by men who believe life itself is sin.
If the child cannot find gratitude in eating raw flour, she is denying the glory of God…
The Bahai teach that contentment comes from a combination of detachment and hardship. In a story from this faith, a child is taught to find contentment in being served a handful of flour as a meal. If the child cannot find gratitude in eating raw flour, she is denying the glory of God, putting her earthly desires above praising her creator and therefore experiences discontent.
For those raised within the Jewish faith: “A joyful heart makes a cheerful face; A sad heart makes a despondent mood. All the days of a poor person are wretched, but contentment is a feast without end.” (Proverbs 15:13 and 15) Here contentment is derived from making a cheerful face despite one’s wretched lot.
The New Age takes this all a step further, dangling the carrot of future prosperity in the form of material wealth if one can only find the feeling of already having what one desires without deviating from this contentment even in the reality of its lack.
both serves those who hoard capital and promotes the theory of capitalism as good, natural, and desired.
All religions, including the New Age, provide teachings on contentment that insist it is a reward for obedience to that which both serves those who hoard capital and promotes the theory of capitalism as good, natural, and desired. In these teachings a follower’s lack of material goods, even necessities, is a product of one’s failure of faith.
As for the simple feeling of contentment itself? None of this is true. Our personal contentment will come and go no matter what we manage to achieve or garner in relationship with others.
Contentment is simply not a permanent condition. The belief that we can make it stay is what drives certain addictions like those to shopping or gambling. Our beliefs that we would feel content forever if we had more stuff or, at least, the ability within to feel full gratitude for a handful of flour or the even more ludacris ability to feel like we own a Porsche when we take the bus, are all simply hurtful lies that deify the machinations of capital and its production.
Contentment is like inspiration; she comes on her own time and leaves by the same door. In the case of both we can indeed attract their attention more often if our inner environment is hospitable and our outer liar conducive to their proclivities. This being the case means that gratitude for what we have is certainly sexy but a desire for what is possible is equally so.
Most importantly, however, is to recognize when contentment has shown up and welcome her in like a cherished guest. If we say we don’t deserve her or worse that she is a symptom of our inflated ego or worse still a marker of sin, she will surely leave, perhaps never to return. We cannot make contentment stay, but we can make sure she never bothers us again.
The real key to contentment is to enjoy her while she is there and to wave casually goodbye when she says it is time to go. Her wanderings are not based on your worth and to think it so degrades you both. Treat contentment like the lover you love on their own terms, and you will enjoy a lifetime of getting to know her again and again and again.
May we eschew the demands of capital.
Author of Daydream Tarot: A Basic Guide for Visionaries
Read Michelle’s monthly Tarot column in ANTIGRAVITY
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