“It’s Sooo Satisfying!”* NOT!!
Question:
Is Insatiability (more, more, more – never enough -aka The
Yatzer More©) Instinctual & Hardwired or Really an Inclination To Be Counterbalanced by Enough?
Hypothesis #1: By nature, man (and woman) are insatiable (there is never enough)
Hypothesis #2: Man (and woman) have a ‘more’ inherent inclination (due to the identification with the body & the resulting fear of extinction with that of the body as the elimination of themselves’) but neither man nor woman is sentenced to insatiability.
Stipulating:
Original Incompletion – (in contrast to the Originals ((sin, dreck, defectiveness, innocence))) is the task of continuing to complete the incompletions of one’s soul (“the hole(s) in the soul) INside out
Creation Is Not Finished – per the 7 days of creation – 5 days were labeled ‘good,’ one day deemed ‘very good,’ and on the 7th and last day – Hashem rested but none of the days were labeled ‘excellent, finished, or complete.’
Insatiable– not satisfied (satis in Latin means enough – thus insatiable = never satisfied, never enough) Per Proverbs 27:20 The grave and Gehinnom will not be sated, and the eyes of man will not be sated or another translation: Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes
The more flesh the more worms; the more possessions, the more worry; the more wives, the more witchcraft; the more maid servants the more lewdness, the more slaves the more thievery…..Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot.
Ethics of the Fathers
Hypothesis #1 accepts that man, being inherently insatiable, as a consequence seeks more, more, more as there is never enough. As such, as birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, there is no end to man’s seeking more, more, more – as it is instinctual. This ‘insatiable nature’ (especially in the realm of sex and commerce) is to be recognized, accepted and governed by values & necessary sanctions. Thus, for example, in business and personal finance this hardwired inherent drive of insatiability is driven toward more, more, more even though more, better, now has the not unusual habit of becoming less, worse, later.’ And ‘more, more, more – what are we all morticians – per e.e. cummings) is further reinforced by acculturation of ‘dissatisfaction’ – not enoughness - being ‘less than’ – and with apologies to Mars Candy commercial it ain’t so satisfying – without Snicker™ing
Hypothesis #2 allows man the potential to override – the default being inclination (rather than instinctual) to more, more, more (the Yatzer More™) by the recognition and acceptance that Shaddai is enough. Whereas more, more, more – ‘the yatzer more’ is externally comparative, enough is an INside out perspective. (i.e. in personal financial planning, thus, one manages goals rather than assets©) Still, with a 40,000++++ barrage of messages of not enough/dissatisfaction per year or more on TV, radio, the web, etc etc, enough’s voice is but a whimper – not even a still small voice. And when one gets to enough it becomes ‘a little more – just in case – a cushion’ or as the old comedian Sam Levinson said ‘I finally got the means to the ends and they moved the ends apart.’ Enough in a dialectic of tension with more has less of a chance than the Washington Generals beating the Harlem Globetrotters.
“A” stake to ground assuage ‘enough’ from the winds of more is meaning. “The” stake ‘grounding, underpinning’ the foundation to fortify the battleground from the battering & onslaught of the yatzer more & life in general is Hashem – Shaddai. And holding this ‘battleground state’ of enough is aligning & linking means with meaning despite being challenged: first by those that ignore, next by ridicule, and finally by the same individuals who ignored and ridiculed and then appropriate authorship to themselves as they contort original intent.
Without meaning (defined by: 1) what it is and 2) what it is not (otherwise you get snot)) is a difficult almost Sisyphusian task in 1) aligning means to and with meaning and 2) to realize ‘enough’ let alone use JEWdo on the yatzer more (and more-on) inclination.
Herein lies TRUST – CONFIDENCE in—Shaddai as enough– as the guide by one’s side for ‘despite, although, anyway, even if’ that Hashem is ‘the meaning of all meanings is God’ (Rabbi Abraham Heschel) and recalling, ‘without God anything goes’ per Dostoevsky.
Thus insatiability (more, more, more, in never enough) is a choice not a sentence as Hashem –as Shaddai – as enough.
“I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFKifpMtlNs 1972 commercial
- It’s so satisfying – ironically a Snickers Commercial
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mm6H2XJDbQ
