Yesterday, at the conclusion of Part Two, I provided a link to a Google form where Daily Post readers could respond to this question:
What does the phrase “a satisfied mind” mean to you, in your life?
One of the responses:
To me, “a satisfied mind” is one free of worry, but also a utopian farce. Without falling down the nihilistic rabbit hole of the latter sentiment, the phrase to me revolves around my ability to live happily and provide abundantly. To never stress about bills, car troubles, childcare, education, the food on my table (and how it’s sourced), climate change, wars, famine, natural disasters, etc.
For me, I know I will never be satisfied. Sure I am happy where I live, work, and recreate, but it could be better. I could be a better husband, father, and friend, and through those aspirations, my mind is never truly satisfied. Wouldn’t satisfaction imply complacency? It’s certainly important to find fulfillment in your life and to be satisfied, but a truly satisfied mind is one I cannot fathom. With each day and each generation, we should be striving for improvement, which contradicts the phrase “a satisfied mind.”
To respond to this reader’s conclusion, that we “should be striving for improvement”….
… that’s a sentiment that I suppose 99% of the people in my community — Pagosa Springs — would agree with. It’s certainly one of the core philosophies behind this online news-and-opinion website: that our community can be improved, if the people in leadership roles will make good decisions, and if the people not in leadership roles will make a concerted effort to hold their leaders’ feet to the fire.
Another core philosophy at the Daily Post: that individuals and families have the ability to make improvements in their lives, by choosing certain actions, and by cooperating with their neighbors.
And that certain improvements are possible, in spite of whatever decisions may be made on a national or global scale, by people in power.
Meanwhile, here’s another Google form response we received — a rather different kind of response — to the question about “a satisfied mind”.
One simple sentence:
Being totally immersed and present in whatever I am doing, wherever I am.
There’s no implication, in this definition, that we need to strive for “improvement”, as individuals or as a community. Instead, the reader implies that a satisfied mind is available to each of us, at any given moment, simply by being “present”.
Would 99% of the people in my community also agree with this definition? I have no idea.
Thus, we have a couple of very different ideas to consider. Either “a satisfied mind” is in some way incompatible with our continuing desire for improvement, or it’s available at every moment simply by experiencing it.
At this point, I need to go back to the video shared in Part One — and to the song performed in my living room many years ago by traveling minstrel and autoharp virtuoso Bryan Bowers, during a house concert.
How many times have you heard someone say
If I had his money, I’d do things my way?
How little they know, it’s so hard to find
One rich man in ten with a satisfied mind…
Now once I had money, and fortune and fame
I had everything to win in life’s game
Then one day it happened, I lost every dime
But I’m richer by far with a satisfied mind…
This song is about something very specific. Money. Wealth.
The message here is actually pretty simple. And maybe even biblical…
Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Wealth won’t get us into heaven.
Which brings us to another response to yesterday’s Google form, from another Daily Post reader who lives here in Pagosa Springs.
What does the phrase ‘a satisfied mind’ mean?
Having a roof over my head. Plenty of food in the pantry as they say and people around me that care. I had lots of money once, and wow it was fun time. Now that I’m old, money just doesn’t mean anything for happiness.
As long as I have enough to stay in my home, I am one happy camper.
Having a roof over my head. People around me that care.
Money just doesn’t mean anything, when it comes to having treasure in heaven. Just the opposite, in fact. Wealth is a hindrance.
Is this the message we hear from our leaders? From the people in positions of power?
From our journalists?
From our friends and neighbors?
Read Part Four… tomorrow…