谢振礼 托福范文: 幸福知足
TOEFL Independent Writing
Topics:
Do your agree or disagree with the following statement? People would be happier if they had fewer possessions.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
Essay:
Being an inner quality, happiness does not entirety depend on a great deal of possessions that you have because, if you lack the peace of mind, you cannot be truly happy. In a philosophical sense, happiness does not reside in material wealth but happiness dwells in the soul. It is quite possible that the more you have, the more you want, and spiritually the less happy you feel.
It is true that wealth brings happiness; however, this does not mean that as your wealth increases, your happiness also increases. More often than not, the more possessions you want, the less happy you may feel in your soul. For example, over time through advertisements you are made to believe that your well-being and self-worth are defined by what you wear, drive and use. You may think that acquiring more possessions will bring you more happiness, not being aware that the quantity of possessions can increase your material happiness only to a certain point, after which perhaps your wealth increases but not your spiritual happiness. Furthermore, buying more material goods requires even more possessions to maintain the same level of happiness before. It is not very unlike the over-usage of drugs or alcohols in that the more you take, the more you need to consume the next time to sustain the previous degrees of “feeling good.”
Then again, what generates more sustainable happiness is the peace of mind related to simple spiritual lifestyles. In other words, spiritual experiences may far outweigh material possessions in bringing happiness. For example, simple experiences like going for a spa, going to the concert, and going on a holiday are instrumental to achieving the peace of mind whereas material acquisitions are usually not. It is probably because unnecessary possessions often turn out to be unnecessary burdens, and because when you have these burdens, you have to take care of them. At this point, you tend to lack the peace of mind that is closely associated with spiritual happiness, and that is also why it makes sense that most people would be happier if they had fewer possessions, or if they had fewer wants. That is to say, if your mind is at peace, you can be happy; if you have lots of possessions but lack the peace of mind, you cannot be happy.
In conclusion, true happiness is spiritual happiness that implies desiring fewer wants, rather than material happiness that implies wanting more and more possessions. Of course, the more possessions you have, the more pleasure and power you have; nevertheless, that kind of material happiness only increases until a certain extent. True happiness is the peace of mind that dwells in the soul.
