T

ENOUGH

History relates no instance in which a conqueror has

been surfeited with conquests.

—STEFAN ZWEIG

he writers Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse Five,
and Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22, were once at a party
in a fancy neighborhood outside New York City. Standing in the
palatial second home of some boring billionaire, Vonnegut began to
needle his friend. “Joe,” he said, “how does it feel that our host only
yesterday may have made more money than your novel has earned in
its entire history?”
“I’ve got something he can never have,” Heller replied.
“And what on earth could that be?” Vonnegut asked.
“The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Earl Woods called that the e-word, like it was an expletive. In
truth, enough is a beautiful thing.
Imagine the stillness that sense of enough brought Joseph Heller
and everyone else who has it. No ceaseless wanting. No insecurity of
comparison. Feeling satisfied with yourself and your work? What
gift!
Saying the word “enough” is not enough. Deeply spiritual,
introspective work is required to understand what that idea means—
work that may well destroy illusions and assumptions we have held
our entire lives.