Obtaining More Money/Possessions Won't Obtain Fulfillment

Several years ago I heard an interview in which a very sobering story about the emptiness of wealth featured sharply. It was a dinner someone attended wherein the combined net worth at the table was greater than the GDPs of some countries:

”... went to this dinner in Silicon Valley and everyone at the table had at least 200 million dollars... [they’re] drinking 10,000 dollar bottles of wine that were just stacked up in the basement. In listening to the dinner... [you] would assume they had just been laid off from Burger King, and had 5 kids and couldn't pay the mortgage. They were so deeply unhappy, and so depressing to be around because of their pessimism and cynicism, that it highlights for me... (the need for) gratitude in the present tense. I once heard that depression is being stuck in the past; and anxiety is being stuck in the future.”

People get exactly what they want only to discover it wasn’t at all what they really need.