Write a book or 2. Travel: Ireland, Tibet, Tokyo, backpack through Europe. Try Lsd at least once. Join the military and experience all the great and horrible things it has to offer. Go to college to major in psychology or philosophy. and then make a career out of one of them. and perhaps start a family... As I sit here, contimplating all these things I'd like to do with my life, I can't help but think about the empact of 'wanting'. Do the successful reach success by luck, simply a gift of chance? The right pieces falling into place at the right time. The right enviornment and up-bringing. Or do our hopes and dreams truly drive us and allow us to accomplish and achieve? Do we really have that much power over our own destiny? As a chronic pessimist... you can guess where my thoughts would lie... I suppose I'd like to think that things aren't going to happen for me, because I'm not in the right conditions for them to happen... that way failure is less of a disappointment... and I have something to fall back on... 'well I can't accomplish this because no one ever told me i could' 'I can't do this, because this obsticle is in my way' Could it be that our own self built barriors meant to keep us from failing... also stop us from achieving? Barrowing from a buddhist perspective... It could be our wants, our cravings, our desires, our inability to be satisfied with the way things are that cause us so much suffering in the first place. Where is the balance between a drive for prosperity and simply being content? and which... if either is more important?
First off, it's tough to try acid only once. Unless you have a bad trip. On your last point; being content with what you have is one of the most important qualities in life. Much more that drive. If you're happy with what you have, you don't need drive. And if you have drive, you still need to be content with what you have, or else what's the point? I some people are extremely successful but are not happy, ever. They always want more and there is no end to wanting. But having said that, wanting more in terms of spiritual pursuits is very important. That will lead you to great heights.
hmm. well, from a mosaic perspective of eastern philosophy, here's my advice: 1) your real problem is your attachment to happenings (or non-happenings) in this reality, and not your drive/contentment, though i base this only on your post. the object of pursuing your spiritual path is to merge with the Tao (or God, or emptiness, or the Goddess or whatever rings your bells). this is not done by *doing* something, but rather by *not* doing anything. this is difficult to digest, because you have to do things while you do nothing. your body and actions may continue to do what they do, but inside you have to realize that fundamentally nothing is happening. Ramana Maharshi said something to the effect of 'this reality is more like a slideshow of images that appear in front of us wherever we go.' you may have worldly pursuits, and continue work of being a student or a family man, or whatever, as long as you are conscious behind that, of the formlessness that is the *real* reality. 2) it is not our desires that make us suffer; it is our attachment to the state of having our desires fulfilled. 3) writing books is a nifty activity, but don't write a book because you have the desire to write a book. do it if you find something to say, which people need to hear. 4) I have used LSD once. it is a long-split opinion about whether it's better to use psychedelics once, or continually. for me, now, they are a way to see a bit further down the road of spiritual development, so i know what to work on and what state to make an everyday reality without the aid of the chemical catalyst. then again, others who have much experience have said that once the door has been opened, it only leads to madness to slam it open over and over again. your call, i suppose. 5) "Success" shouldn't be measured by worldly accomplishment, but by how much one can know their own essence. most people are never recognized for this accomplishment, which is ok because it's silly to be paraded for doing nothing in particular. if it is your path and purpose to do something worldly which you will be recognized for, then you only have to exert the effort to follow your intuition and meet the Tao half-way, and the rest will just happen. 6) I'm sure Tibet and Europe would be beautiful, and i'd love to go there too, but this is unncessary. one does not need to travel thousands of miles around the world to find what was always inside of him. i think its mostly a copout to think that there's something waiting for someone "out there." all you have to do is be *Here*. 7) i'm not sure why you want to join the military. this may be my personality speaking, but i wouldn't volunteer to surround myself with robotic, monotonous routine yelling and antagonism. you can work at a fast food place and experience those same things without the physical fitness (go for jogs), weapons training, and ego games. of course this is my bias, but remember that if you die (your body is destroyed) before your spiritual work is done to attain realization, its game over and you have to wait until next time (which could be billions of years of suffering cyclic existence from now according to Buddhist thought). I hope this helps.
