Wanting more - Ignorance Paradox

Wanting more is a virtue.

Calling it a virtue may raise some eyebrows and invite some disagreement.

More what? Many will think, more money but quite often we want more of something that is not related at all to money. Wanting to learn more, master more, or see more perhaps.

The trouble is, many show disdain towards those that express the want for more money whilst being in denial about their own hunger for more. What I say is that the same desire to advance oneself is found in all that strive to want more. Some get more involved in their community, giving back more. Some want to achieve more in their line of work or artistry.

Wanting to enhance your abilities seems like a different desire to wanting greater wealth. Nevertheless, it feels good to see progress in whatever form that takes. It feels good to be on the path towards more. The journey.

Hopefully it is your journey rather than a journey others want to take you.

One of my little side journeys right now is towards being able to skate backwards. I want to be somewhere as good as others that race past me and spin around. I am already ahead of others that are taking their first steps. Week by week I see some progress. It is quite nice to skate with others that are equally inept as this puts us in the same boat. Fail and try, fail and try without being the only ‘useless’ person on the rink.

Is it fair to sneer at those that want to make lots of money. Sneering at their wanting more objective, whilst believing that your wanting to be better at what you do is morally upstanding. You may want to get better enough to teach others the craft perhaps. You contend that your desires are in harmony with the environment. Fair enough, however, the same desire is at the heart of both objectives. The same desire to achieve more is found in wanting more wealth as it is in wanting greater skills. Besides, your life, your crafts may not be quite as environmentally friendly as you believe them to be.

Whatever the case, both wants contain the striving to find out how an aim can be achieved. Both contain the feel good reward for accomplishing certain milestones.

Who judges themselves honestly before judging others. You both want contentment but assume that your way to find contentment is superior. Not all of us can be content with progress in skills, art, writing, sports etc. Not all of us find what you do satisfying. They want more of something else.

We are the same but different. Same underlying aims manifesting in vastly different ways.

9th May 2026