Wanting positive experiences is a negative experience; accepting negative experiences is a positive experience. Its what the philosopher Alan Watts’s referred to as the “backwards law.” Although the backwards law comes directly from Tao Te Ching or Zen Buddhism, Watt takes credit for spreading its principles to the Western audience. The idea that the the more you pursue feeling better all the time, the less satisfied you become, as pursuing something only reinforces the fact that you lack it in the first place. The more you desperately want to be rich, the more poor and unworthy you feel, regardless of how much money you actually make. The more you desperately want to be sexy and desired, the uglier you come to see yourself, regardless of your actual physical appearance. The more you want to be desperately happy and loved, the lonelier and more afraid you become, regardless of those who surround you. The more you want to be spiritually enlightened, the more self-centred and shallow you become in trying to get there.