In a 2014 commencement speech, actor, artist, and comedian Jim Carrey said this:

“We are not the avatars we create. We are not the pictures on the film stock. We are the light that shines through. All else is just smoke and mirrors — distracting, but not truly compelling. I’ve often said that I wish people could realize all their dreams and wealth and fame … so that they could see that it’s not where you’re going to find your sense of completion.”

He’s elsewhere been quoted as saying more concisely, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”

Indeed.

* * *

Wanting tells the lie that having will fill every void.

It does not.