>>>The "small" are the things we busy ourselves with like staying alive, eating, making shelter, etc. They are the activities that, by and large, are concerned with maintaining the body, with survival. Buying things like cars, houses, holidays, are all extensions of this activity. They are all small things. They occupy us, and satisfy us, at a superficial level.
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>>>Beyond the need to just survive we can start to satisfy our ego, our ideas about ourselves, our image of ourselves, our wants. Survival of the body is followed by survival of the ego. I read a great saying which goes something like "when man invented the mirror he lost his soul".
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>>>There is no end to the number of things we can want, ways in which we can cater to our desires. But all these things and activities avoid the truly fundamental questions that are in the hearts and minds of any person who spends even a short time introspecting; who are we, where are we going, what's it all about, who is the thinker behind these thoughts. These are the "big" questions. Satisfying the small will never bring an answer to the big.
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>>>The question you ask comes from a "big" place...
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>>Now if we could all turn to Hymn number 306 in our hymnn books ... :-)
>
>It has nothing to do with religion per se.

Yeah I know, but it just reminded me of a mild-mannered English parish vicar giving his Sunday sermon. I'm not being disparaging here, saying you're preaching or anything :-)