What do we really want? That which will make us happy. But what is that? We don’t seem to know for sure. So we try things. I will eat this slice of cake. I will buy that iPhone. I will go on a trip to Maui. I will spend the evening drinking Long Island Ice Teas with my friends. I will get a new job. I will get married. I will get married to somebody else. I will earn more money. I will steal more money. I will get a fancy house.

Many of these things we try do make us happy, for a while; some do not. Some make us happy for a while, and then very unhappy. Some last for a while, but then they are over. Others last longer, but we get tired of them. Some of them are genuinely good things so far as they go; but they don’t go far enough. Some turn out to be bad things all the way around.

It seems that there are different kinds of good things, and that none of them are satisfying in the long run.