Suffering for most of us comes from not getting what we need and from not needing what we get, from the silent and purposeless void that opens up between what becomes of us and what we mean to become. The solution that so many conjure for themselves is to retreat into a kind of small “b” Buddhism, where striving is eschewed, where desire is demonized, where wanting for things to work out is the problem in a world that seldom works out, where your expectations of your people and your life are reigned in and minimized to the point where the disappointments—the sufferings—are minimal too.
