My goal is to be as content as this squirrel
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I learned of this book that I’m curious to read - The Fourth Way. Looks interesting but I don’t know if it’s worth reading. But anyway the thing that took my attention is the idea that there’s apparently “three commonly known ways to enlightenment - physical, spiritual and emotional.”
I reckon it’s to our society’s folly that so many disregard the spiritual aspect of life.
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Just a few thoughts… for me …contentment is not attached to comfort or standards of living. Contentment is being present in the moment. Trying not to see ‘events’ that start and finish, but viewing everything all as one continuous unfolding, as a way to achieve a sense of peace. Moving away from questions involving, “what is it that I want?’ type thoughts. Spending less time trying to know myself, and more time just being here and now. Resisting the urge to wallow in the ceaseless chatter in my mind.
The search for happiness has only ever made me unhappy.
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There are already some threads about it here. 
There’s also at least one film. And allegedly, several notable filmmakers were significantly influenced by this stuff. If you want unconvential spiritual searches, you might enjoy the works of Alejandro Jodorowsky.
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Oh ffs. I was talking about this idiot last week 
I guess I’ll watch the documentary on his failed Dune adaptation.
Speaking of thoughts related to being content vs. idiocy, what do you make of…
Five cats and a woman. That is all I need in life.
…?
IDK, but the woman I was talking with about Jodorowsky has 7 cats.
…and one dog? 
I don’t get the reference xD
EDIT: no, it’s not her. And actually I don’t think this lady has 7 cats… maybe that was a hyperbole. It’s 7:24 AM, let’s see if she’s awake 
EDIT2: not awake but she did say 7 cats. That’s about the number of roaches that should pay me the rent this month
That’s an interesting take, and I think some people are able to accomplish that. Work, save and invest enough to step back, reassess, and come to a new understanding of one’s priorities. I highly suggest it. A Buddhist book for foreigners I read in Taipei yars ago said, “Money is useful.” Yup. And now, having some, perspective is. Goals and potential are a whole other thing. If you haven’t mastered or even rolled with your ego, your goals and purpose might just as well be chosen by your mom and dad.
I seriously doubt that. They were people, just like you and me. They were cold, dirty, constantly infected and under threat of an early grave.
Me too.
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So not Our Lady of the Cats, just some random cat lady?
Whatever. Here’s some more Alejandro for you. 
Which part pushed you over the edge? Blood? Christ? Buddha? Flower? 
Or does the last part offend your inner Deng Xiaoping? 
I’m not sure if attaining enlightenment is my goal in life, but putting that aside for now, to me, everything except the spiritual falls short. For example, as an example of the physical, let’s say you excel in sports. I think there’s something magnificent to be gained by that. But in the end it’s temporary and eventually all sport greats get old and the younger generation surpasses them. Sometimes this happens very quickly, such as in the world of 100m sprinters. There must be an incredible amount of satisfaction in having once been the or one of the best in an area, but at the end of the day, it’s all temporary, fleeting. Two things come to mind. One is this (which is kind of a strong argument against my position above (or maybe not) but I still love it):
To the Fates
by Friedrich HolderlinGrant me just one summer, powerful ones,
And just one autumn for ripe songs,
That my heart, filled with that sweet
Music, may more willingly die within me.The soul, denied its divine heritage in life,
Won’t find rest down in Hades either.
But if what is holy to me, the poem
That rests in my heart, succeeds —Then welcome, silent world of shadows!
I’ll be content, even though it’s not my own lyre
That leads me downwards. Once I’ll have
Lived like the gods, and more isn’t necessary.
Another is this:
Ecclesiastes 1
New International Version
Everything Is Meaningless
1 The words of the Teacher,[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”3 What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11 No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.
And so this book in the Bible continues until the “teacher” comes to the conclusion that there is something that is meaningless.
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Got the right suffix there? 
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You can also teach the younger generation, help contribute to their development in other ways, watch and enjoy their performances, and even take a special interest in individuals you have a connection with.
Oh shit. Wrote that too quickly. “Isn’t,” of course!
My comment was related to whether, through, sport we can gain some type of “enlightenment,” ultimate goal in life, etc. I don’t feel you can. Great satisfaction, but at the end of the day, it falls short. Bruce Jenner comes to mind! Ha, ha.
Seriously, though, I do know someone who did very well in a sport. He continued things along in the way you mentioned, but in some ways, there’s also a sadness to it as he reminisces about his glory days. He now does BJJ as rolling around the ground is all his broken knees can take. I envy the hell out of him, but there’s got to be more to life, is what I think.
Sure, some sadness will be part of it. You said you were using sports as an “example of the physical”, and I was doing the same. All part of the same conversation about sources of satisfaction. I do feel that we can gain satisfaction through our physical existence, and I know you feel that it falls short to some degree.
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You never feel divine love while running?
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