We Don't Need Much

I need something in my mouth, gum, food, cigarette, liquid, water. Something something to satisfy this craving that I do not really have. Cravings for things I do not need. We are so burdened with needs, and we waste so much time yielding to them. Yet they are not really there. We’ve created them from nothing, from emotional trauma, from societal pressures and stimuli, from habits, defeats, longings. I repeat: they are not really there. Yet they rear up from memory and custom, making us want when in fact we need next to nothing. A little food, a few rags to kill the cold, a roof, some heat, medicine when we’re sickly—little more. The other things—love, satisfaction, contentment, freedom, happiness—are separate and harder to come by, and they come to us by a different means. The truth is that once our basic needs are met, there is little need for the material world.