{"id":66,"date":"2014-06-02T08:28:45","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T08:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/?p=66"},"modified":"2014-06-02T08:28:45","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T08:28:45","slug":"the-roots-of-discontent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html","title":{"rendered":"The Roots of Discontent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_70\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/files\/2014\/06\/edison.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-70 \" alt=\"discontent is the first necessity of progress\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/370\/2014\/06\/edison-300x208.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Discontent is the first necessity of progress.&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Unhappiness and feelings of emptiness are familiar to many.\u00a0What are the roots of our discontent?<\/p>\n<p>In our current system, everything is driven by feeding a system with an insatiable appetite. Without demand, suppliers cannot survive, so it is imperative that demand is stoked, fueled, twisted, and ensured by whatever means ethical or not.<\/p>\n<p>The system is so entrenched that it doesn\u2019t know how to stop unless by raising production and consumption.<\/p>\n<p>Consumption can only keep increasing via an ever-expanding population base, planned obsolesce in products that break down quickly, creating new fads and fashions, and constantly seeking to \u201cfill the void\u201d people feel from being consumers.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a battle to keep this system going with marketing people more and more challenged to create more devious, delusional and empty promises to feed the insatiable spiritual hunger people feel. The more empty the consumption, the more that hunger grows. Eventually the whole system will implode. It has to. When the economic tsunami hits, what will you do?<\/p>\n<p>What if I told you that that whole system was based on deception and the fundamental message being sold is \u201cyou are not enough?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Call it the delusion of economics, or economics of delusion.<\/p>\n<p>The whole system cannot survive if people keep consuming more and more of things they don\u2019t need, ultimately spiritually depleting them. Many end up shallow and miserable because of chasing a false dream.<\/p>\n<p>What if really all human beings are 100 percent worthy 100 percent of the time\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Most people have been misled to believe that happiness is outside of them, that there is some idealised destination, some material possession that if they can gain a hold of, then all will be well. If they can get this external \u201cthing\u201d and grab onto it, hold it tightly, then they will feel whole and complete. In fact, our whole society is geared towards consumerism.<\/p>\n<p>Personal identity and self-esteem are linked to an external factor that may or not be achievable. Fortunately, most goals are achievable, they just take time, resources, circumstance and opportunity. Many give up when they face hurdles and worse, fall into despair when they \u201cfail\u201d to achieve their objectives.<\/p>\n<p>It is virtually impossible to reach all goals, unless they are realistic. It is also impossible for life not to deal unpredictable cards, for the unexpected to occur.<\/p>\n<p>That we should panic and self-destruct when something unexpected and uncalled for occurs, shows how naive and incomplete our education has been as human beings. It reflects our need for wisdom. It\u2019s no accident that depression, anxiety and suicide are so common in our societies. We are seeking something external. We are seeking wholeness from something far out of reach. The void stems from seeking something outside of ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Henry Miller said something evocative that rings true and provides wisdom &#8211;\u00a0<em>\u201cOne\u2019s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It is not needed that we change where we are, or where we are going; what is required is to see our world anew.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/files\/2014\/06\/disconent.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-71\" alt=\"disconent\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/370\/2014\/06\/disconent-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Unhappiness and feelings of emptiness are familiar to many.\u00a0What are the roots of our discontent? In our current system, everything is driven by feeding a system with an insatiable appetite. Without demand, suppliers cannot survive, so it is imperative that demand is stoked, fueled, twisted, and ensured by whatever means ethical or not. The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":570,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,68,52,51,49,13,17,12,50],"tags":[70,75,73,84,76,69,71,74,85,72],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healing","category-journey","category-responsibility","category-self-development","category-shadow","category-soul","category-suffering","category-transformation","category-wholeness","tag-destination","tag-discontent","tag-economic-delusion","tag-edison","tag-happiness","tag-henry-miller","tag-new-eyes","tag-self-worth","tag-unhappiness","tag-void"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Roots of Discontent - Healing and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Roots of Discontent - Healing and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Unhappiness and feelings of emptiness are familiar to many.\u00a0What are the roots of our discontent? In our current system, everything is driven by feeding a system with an insatiable appetite. Without demand, suppliers cannot survive, so it is imperative that demand is stoked, fueled, twisted, and ensured by whatever means ethical or not. The&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Healing and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/starmentalhealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-02T08:28:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/files\/2014\/06\/edison-300x208.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Starlyte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@davidstarlyte\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Roots of Discontent - Healing and Transformation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Roots of Discontent - Healing and Transformation","og_description":"&nbsp; Unhappiness and feelings of emptiness are familiar to many.\u00a0What are the roots of our discontent? In our current system, everything is driven by feeding a system with an insatiable appetite. Without demand, suppliers cannot survive, so it is imperative that demand is stoked, fueled, twisted, and ensured by whatever means ethical or not. The&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html","og_site_name":"Healing and Transformation","article_author":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/starmentalhealth","article_published_time":"2014-06-02T08:28:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/files\/2014\/06\/edison-300x208.jpg"}],"author":"David Starlyte","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@davidstarlyte","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html","name":"The Roots of Discontent - Healing and Transformation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/files\/2014\/06\/edison-300x208.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-02T08:28:45+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-02T08:28:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/#\/schema\/person\/5d70922db39ca1c0813b3106d356588b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/files\/2014\/06\/edison-300x208.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/files\/2014\/06\/edison-300x208.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/2014\/06\/the-roots-of-discontent.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Roots of Discontent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/","name":"Healing and Transformation","description":"Beliefnet Voices - David Zenon Starlyte","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/#\/schema\/person\/5d70922db39ca1c0813b3106d356588b","name":"David Starlyte","description":"David is a holistic healer, writer and teacher. A health-science Degree graduate in Naturopathic Wellbeing with a Graduate Diploma in Mental Health from Nan Tien University, David's background includes over 20 years in the wellness industry with the last 12 of those being based in Australia. He has trained with Qi Gong masters in China and Buddhist monks in Thailand. He has even studied with kabbalists as a monastic in the Middle-East. As a channel for Divine wisdom, his intuitive coaching, speaking and healing sessions invoke purposeful shifts into deeper connection, inner peace and awakening. Follow David at: http:\/\/davidstarlyte.com Email: davidstarlyte@gmail.com FB: http:\/\/facebook.com\/starmentalhealth IG: https:\/\/instagram.com\/davidstarlyte LI: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/spa-healer-consultant\/","sameAs":["http:\/\/davidstarlyte.com","https:\/\/facebook.com\/starmentalhealth","https:\/\/instagram.com\/davidstarlyte","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/spa-healer-consultant","https:\/\/x.com\/davidstarlyte","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCUO1wXtHdorpXJJfTPMev7g?","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/starlyte-meditation\/self-love-meditation"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/author\/darenson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/570"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/healingandtransformation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}