DESIRING MORE THAN
ONE’S RIGHT

Desiring more than one’s rightful share is to deprive oneself of what is truly theirs. When someone only seeks what is rightfully theirs, the entire universe supports them. But when they want more than their fair share, the universe turns away from them. That’s why the first person succeeds, while the second fails.

When you only ask for what is truly yours, you’re seeking something that legitimately belongs to you, something that justice indicates should come to you. However, when you ask for more than your fair share, it’s like you’re requesting something that, according to justice, belongs to someone else. Why would the other person be willing to give you their part?

The moment a person begins to desire more than what is rightfully his, he falls into contradiction. To claim what belongs to him, he presents one kind of argument; but to seize what belongs to someone else, he uses a different argument. In this way, he weakens his own case. He effectively defeats himself. With two contradictory arguments, he ends up proving that if the first thing is his, then the second cannot be his — and if the second is his, then the first cannot be his.

Whenever a person seeks more than their fair share, they become inconsistent. They use one argument to justify what they believe is theirs and a different one to take what belongs to someone else. This weakens their position and ultimately cancels itself out. They show with two separate arguments that if one thing is theirs, the other cannot be, and vice versa.

An example of such a person is someone who chases two rabbits and catches neither. Likewise, a person who tries to take more than their fair share will lose both their original rights and the extra desires they pursue.

In a way, human history demonstrates this reality in practice.