prosaic

i've been tossing around the ideas of contentment and not stopping moving forward. the closest that i can come to reconciling the two is that one should be content with oneself and what one has; and that one should continually strive to do more for others.

ideally, this should work as your needs will be met by others, rather than yourself, and you will be content with what you have or what is done for you or given to you. but i've yet to see such a well-oiled machine. which leaves one pursuing this at a loss, a deficit. of course the idea of that is selfish, but at some point it becomes untenable.

perhaps one should attempt to find contentment and then give away the excess. not necessarily in solely terms of possessions; but that seems part of it. maybe taking is the short game, and giving is a down-the-road play. maybe it is for suckers. hard to say.