A colleague gave me a very thought provoking statement sometimes ago. He said that slow is fast. What he meant is that while installing and operating one of the software programs for asset management system, it is worthwhile to be patient and wait for the steps to be completed before we click the mouse for the next step. If we are impatient and can’t wait and want things fast, we will end up facing trouble and possibly have to uninstall the program before installing again, this takes more time. So to him, slow is fast is the philosophy approach he uses in operating the software program.
I would like to further the saying after having this insight sometimes ago. What I understand was less is more. How could it be? Less and more are at the two extreme to us, isn’t it?
Living in this world, we always want more. We want more money, bigger house, better car, more possession, more clothes, more shoes, more entertainment, more excitement and the list goes on. We strongly believe that the more we have, the happier we will be.
I love to go against the norm, therefore, less is more. If we can see that the less we have, the happier we will be, then many of the issues dissolve. If we have less, we save the trouble of deciding which dress to wear, which shoes to wear when we are going out. If we have fewer dishes on the table, we save the headache of having to decide which one to choose. Because we don’t have any choice, we just take whatever there is for us. It saves a lot of energy and anxiety and worry.
In that way, we can actually see that defilement is very much keep in check because with less, there is not much attachment, there is not much desire, there is not much wanting. We are content with what is on hand. As a result, there is more happiness, there is more peacefulness, there is more stillness and silence in the mind.
We have been condition to think that having more brings happiness. There is an invitation now to re-program the mind and gives it new information that having less is more happiness. Not having anything is supreme happiness.
It is a little challenging to accept that less is more. But with understanding and wise contemplation, it is nothing difficult to accept as it is a fact. We only blind ourselves and not wanting to see it. With a little practice of awareness, to know how we feel when we have a lot of possessions and having to make choices with how we feel when there is not much choice and we only receive what is there for us, we can understand that easily.
In fact, after understand that less is more, it is correct to say that empty is everything. When there is emptiness, everything is there. See it for yourself.
