The Big Puzzle: Can We Ever Stop Wanting?
A 4th grader’s critique of Buddhism
A very long time ago, a very wise man (named Siddhartha Gautama) looked around the world. He saw something interesting. He noticed that people are often unhappy or stressed. He asked, “Why?” He realized that people always seem to want things. They want a new toy, they want to win a game, or they want a hug from their mom. He thought, “What if people could just stop wanting things so much? If they didn’t need anything, they would never be sad or worried!” This is a very smart idea, and for the most part, he was right!
But there is a big problem. The idea works perfectly in our minds, but our bodies have other ideas! Our bodies are made of special building blocks called “Carbon.” Inside our bodies, we have hundreds of tiny, busy messengers called chemicals. Their job is to help us live! Some of these messengers, like ones with funny names like oxytocin and dopamine, make us feel wonderful things, like LOVE!
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These messengers are not just for fun. They have a huge job. A long time ago, these chemicals helped early humans stay safe. They made us want to eat delicious food to grow strong. They made us want to stick together with our families and friends in a group so we could be safe from predators. Our bodies are programmed by these chemical messengers to desire safety, food, and friends. It’s how we survive! We can’t just turn them off.
Here is the big puzzle! The wise man says, “If you want a calm, happy mind, you must stop wanting things.” But our own bodies have built-in superpowers that say, “NO, you must want things like love and food to be healthy and safe!” Because we live in these human bodies made of carbon and hormonal messengers, we can never truly stop loving people or wanting to be safe. We are stuck being human.
Does this mean the idea (of the cessation of suffering) is impossible? Maybe not! Think about a computer. It isn’t made of flesh and carbon. It is made of metal and silicon. Perhaps one day, our minds could be uploaded and then we would not have these “wanting” messengers. A robot mind wouldn’t want to love its puppy, feel hungry, or stay safe. A robot mind could be perfectly calm, never feeling sad or worried, because it doesn’t want anything. But, probably, that is just for robots, not for us! We are people, and people are made to have big, beautiful feelings!
