Some Thoughts on Insatiability

Insatiability, an appetite that can not be satisfied, can plague an individual or an entire nation. Accepting real and basic needs can seem like a hardship. In my mind I think I could do without the vast variety of products in the supermarket. But when I can’t find the precise cereal or tea because it’s out of stock, my childish nature rants and rales. Well where is it? When will you have it again?

But preference is not the same as an insatiable compulsion. I like to think I could learn to accept fewer choices if I had to (although the propensity to fool ourselves is part of human nature). But an insatiable person suffers. The hoarder, for example, is burdened by too much stuff  that takes up space, limits freedom to move, and threatens personal relationships.

Compared to the insatiability of greed, the principles of Stoicism set a stage more conducive to happiness. Stoicism, a systematic philosophy, dating from around 300 B.C., states that to live the good life, we must live in accord with our human nature, as rational, reflective, and thoughtful beings, and conform our actions to the conditions of the natural world. The stoic Epictetus said,“There is only one place the world can’t touch: our inner selves, our choice at every moment to be brave, to be reasonable, to be good…. Where is the good? In the will…If anyone is unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone.”

We envy wealth because we associate it with happiness. But this could be an illusion. Psychology recognizes underlying factors that lead an “average” person to become insatiable. He’s disconnected from his “real” or “true” self, the spontaneous, problem- solving, creative aspect of psyche described by psychiatrists Donald Winnicott and Karen Horney in the twentieth century.  The false, insatiable self isn’t grounded in reality because a person has received less than “good enough” parenting.

Charles Dickens, the author of the classic story The Christmas Carol, was not only a genius writer but also a natural psychologist. He intuited the dynamics underlying greed before the time of Winnicott and Horney. The character Scrooge learns the origin of his greed when he is visited in a nightmare by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who reveals that Scrooge was abandoned as a child on Christmas by his father. So began his lack of socialization and empathy. Scrooge’s insatiable hunger stems from the absence of caring family bonds.

Most politicians have been raised with the sense that they are “special” and privileged. They need to have an inflated sense of themselves and their purpose to hold a demanding and powerful position. Ideally they serve the people of their nation. World history reveals that too often, however, they serve their own drives for power and wealth.

In his October 4 New York Times editorial titled, “Why Let the Rich Hoard all the Toys? Nicolas D. Kristof writes that economic problems stem from the fact that most of the nation’s wealth is held in the hands of very few. He quotes Joseph Stiglitz the Nobel laureate who says that economic inequality is leading to  “an economic system that is less stable, less efficient, with less growth.”

Conclusion: We look unfavorably upon those who acquire their wealth illegally, rip off, harm or exploit others in a ruthless manner, hoard or condescend to those less fortunate. But wealth itself isn’t abhorrent. Rather, it’s the ungracious, greedy attitude of some wealthy people that we find distastful.

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