There’s a truth we all experience, whether we’ve seen it just that way or not. It’s a basic concept in economics, the law of diminishing returns.
Take mining for example. You’re walking along and find a piece of gold lying on the ground. Wow. All luck, no work, 100 percent profit! You figure there’s gold in the area and start panning in the stream. Lots of work for lesser result. You figure there must be a vein underground. Much more work, and maybe now a crew of people. Pretty soon you’re forming a mining company and digging up a mountain. If it’s still working for you, great, but the profits keep spreading out to others and it’s a long ways from the early 100 percent.
Okay, you’ve never found any gold? How about your first car, or your first house? It was all joy, and all arrival. Now, cars and houses later, they’re still great, but what with maintenance and expenses and all manner of complications, the joy is not quite as pure.
A dentist friend of mine shared his business with his wife who has a talent for organizational development. While he was doing teeth, she built the place into a full-on clinic. In time he found himself coming into the office wondering, “What is this, Motor Vehicles? Who are all these people?”
It’s just like it says in Ecclesiastes:
As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?*
Not that feasting one’s eyes on something isn’t a reward of sorts. But one sees through that, too, and wonders if something’s been lost.
A client of a financial advisor friend of mine told him how he, the client, has reached such a state of success, all he has left to look forward to is his next steak dinner.
It’s hard to feel sorry for the guy, but it does seems it’s the law of diminishing returns taken to the extreme.
Here’s a Chinese proverb:
Even though you have ten thousand fields,
you can eat no more than one measure of rice a day.
Even though your dwelling contains a hundred rooms,
you can use but eight feet of space a night.
Best to keep things simple, and enjoy them 100 percent.
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*Ecclesiastes 5:11
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
9:14 am
Good thoughts. Another upside to less is you have less to lose.
9:54 am
Right on, Lisa. I’m all for simplifying, especially in today’s eg. Orange County’s world of clutter and excess. We slowly grow accustomed to it, and are rooted in it if we’ve grown up here. If kept unchecked, our “successes” can take attention away from the interior life. Things like compassion for the hurting, passion for life, and appreciation of beauty dimishish, and we’re left without soul. Intimacy is then lost, and we wonder why we feel so alone. So, point well made, Hyatt … less, is more.
4:01 pm
“When my bank book is getting small, I think of when I had none at all . . . and I go to sleep counting my blessings” – Bing Crosby in White Christmas. I wonder if Bing co-authored Ecclesiastes. I can honestly say the happiest times in my life had no correlation to the size of my bank book. Funny that we spend so much time and energy chasing things which we know don’t bring happiness. Thanks for the writing Hyatt.
9:10 pm
I found the one thing there’s no diminishing return on is giving to others.. For some reason it’s kind of like exercise.. It feels so great after I do it, but I don’t do it often enough. Here’s to exercising our gift of giving.
12:05 am
So important to remember Hyatt, yes, that less is more. Being happy and in the moment is the best life to be in!!! Friends, family, church, bible studies, great food, wonderful sunsets, a fun walk, a beautiful day,——-those are really what makes me the most happy!! thanks! Lisa
9:51 pm
So true, very nice!