In a culture that constantly asks what else you want, enough answers a different question: “What that you already have is sufficient to begin living now?”
Hi Professor. It goes even deeper than 'having' some inventory for one to begin 'living now.' The base line of survival for any biotic being is quite variable among any one species And among all species. Intra/Inter-dependency on survival sustaining conditions. If one or more of those conditions are not met, then an organism is in serious duress, its lifeforce threatened, its stress levels pushing hormonal buttons that produce agency to become primal in behaviors. But take note - rarely if ever, among free-roaming, unconfined, un-manipulated wild animals, or their plantae doppelgangers, do you ever see a fat, sick, unhealthy, miserable, desperate being. They either are functional in life support, or they are dead. So at least two phenomena are in play here -- extra-deterministic events (weather, geomorphology, super solar events, asteroids, etc.); or inter-deterministic events that are exclusively behavior driven, both intra- and inter-species driven. These include genocides, extinctions, microbiological threats that can cross-contaminate species, habitat disruptions that are caused by other species, wreaking havoc on different ones (desertification, deforestation, flooding watersheds via damming, toxic synthetic substances placed via agency into an otherwise stable population, intra-species warfare, extra-species warfare via pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc). There is only one species that creates all this havoc - Homo sapiens. So at the core of 'enough' is sane ecological adjustment/adaptation/genetic evolution, vs. stress-laden aberrant behaviors Among Humans. At the core of this quandary over 'enough' is the mental psychotic break of 'dualism.' We invent entire behavioral regimes to cover our tracks - competition, zero-sum transactions, slavery, misogyny and more. Until we crack this dualistic walnut wide open and eat it, we are screwed.
Contentment is being happy with what you already have.
Hi Professor. It goes even deeper than 'having' some inventory for one to begin 'living now.' The base line of survival for any biotic being is quite variable among any one species And among all species. Intra/Inter-dependency on survival sustaining conditions. If one or more of those conditions are not met, then an organism is in serious duress, its lifeforce threatened, its stress levels pushing hormonal buttons that produce agency to become primal in behaviors. But take note - rarely if ever, among free-roaming, unconfined, un-manipulated wild animals, or their plantae doppelgangers, do you ever see a fat, sick, unhealthy, miserable, desperate being. They either are functional in life support, or they are dead. So at least two phenomena are in play here -- extra-deterministic events (weather, geomorphology, super solar events, asteroids, etc.); or inter-deterministic events that are exclusively behavior driven, both intra- and inter-species driven. These include genocides, extinctions, microbiological threats that can cross-contaminate species, habitat disruptions that are caused by other species, wreaking havoc on different ones (desertification, deforestation, flooding watersheds via damming, toxic synthetic substances placed via agency into an otherwise stable population, intra-species warfare, extra-species warfare via pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc). There is only one species that creates all this havoc - Homo sapiens. So at the core of 'enough' is sane ecological adjustment/adaptation/genetic evolution, vs. stress-laden aberrant behaviors Among Humans. At the core of this quandary over 'enough' is the mental psychotic break of 'dualism.' We invent entire behavioral regimes to cover our tracks - competition, zero-sum transactions, slavery, misogyny and more. Until we crack this dualistic walnut wide open and eat it, we are screwed.