We are what we are as a species because we want “more.” True, some of us seem to be satisfied with what we are and have, but the drive toward “more” probably underlies most lives. Not satisfied with using just teeth and hands, we invented tools, and, well, the rest is, as they say, high tech drones and robot store clerks.
Kirsten Munk was a Danish noblewoman who became the second wife of King Christian IV of Denmark in 1615. Together they had 12 children. Then—and even a sophisticated 21st-century person like you might raise an eyebrow at this—in 1627 she had an affair with a German count, Rhinegrave Otto Ludwig. Twelve children in twelve years and she still wanted more. Of course, the king didn’t take the liaison well, and he exiled her from his court.
More. That’s what she seemed to want. Your thoughts?
Tough to fathom that a queen with everything at her disposal and a husband with enough testosterone to keep her expecting for what must have seemed a continuous dozen years needed “more.” Ah! Wanting “more.” It might be in our genes; it certainly lay inside Kirsten’s chemises.
Now, there are arguments against such wanting, and they make sense. The Buddha told us that desire gets us into trouble. And he was right; it does. But we make no advances in any manner without wanting more. Mindful? Have enough mindfulness? Peaceful? Peaceful enough? It’s a constant balancing act, isn’t it, this life? The scales tip between ascetic abandonment and avarice.
Where are you on that scale? Standing on the side of Buddha or on the side of Queen Kirsten?
Kirsten Munk was a Danish noblewoman who became the second wife of King Christian IV of Denmark in 1615. Together they had 12 children. Then—and even a sophisticated 21st-century person like you might raise an eyebrow at this—in 1627 she had an affair with a German count, Rhinegrave Otto Ludwig. Twelve children in twelve years and she still wanted more. Of course, the king didn’t take the liaison well, and he exiled her from his court.
More. That’s what she seemed to want. Your thoughts?
Tough to fathom that a queen with everything at her disposal and a husband with enough testosterone to keep her expecting for what must have seemed a continuous dozen years needed “more.” Ah! Wanting “more.” It might be in our genes; it certainly lay inside Kirsten’s chemises.
Now, there are arguments against such wanting, and they make sense. The Buddha told us that desire gets us into trouble. And he was right; it does. But we make no advances in any manner without wanting more. Mindful? Have enough mindfulness? Peaceful? Peaceful enough? It’s a constant balancing act, isn’t it, this life? The scales tip between ascetic abandonment and avarice.
Where are you on that scale? Standing on the side of Buddha or on the side of Queen Kirsten?
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