Written by Sr. Elizabeth -- Taiwan Province
Bernard Shaw once said, "There are two miseries in life, the first one is you haven't got what you want, and the second is you have got it."
Once I was deeply convinced of Shaw's words and I admired his ability to express the miserable circumstances of life in such a humorous and easy way. But later after I carefully pondered his remark, I figured that the standpoint here is still, "to possess", which leads to the double tragedy -- the suffering of not having met one's desire and the feeling of emptiness or boredom after one possesses something he had wanted.
If we shift the standpoint into our creativity, and view life through an aesthetic lens -- why couldn't we say the opposite. There are two kinds of happiness -- the first is when you haven't attained what you want, so you may try to pursue it and make it possible; the second is after you have reached your objective, you may feel gratitude and enjoy it.
It is true, life is always accompanied by inevitable suffering; however, once you get rid of the desire of possessing, you might be able to prevent those pains and worries, allowing you to livehappier and balanced life. Living out of aesthetics is not a perfect way, but there is something more to life than Shaw presents. This belief will sustain me through the unpredictable future of my life.
