I hope my reply satisfies you both physically and spiritually.
First, the physical. We are taught, “Who is happy? One who is happy with his portion.” I don’t think happy means laughing out loud and jumping for joy. Rather, if a person is content and satisfied with what he has, he is truly a happy person. It’s human nature to always want more and more, but if a person has enough common sense to understand that “always wanting more” is a downward spiral leading to unhappiness, he will hopefully realize that what he has is a satisfying blessing. I personally know many people who live like this and they seem truly happy.
Is the same true regarding spiritual satisfaction? (And just to be clear, when I use the word “spirituality”, my intent is the desire to be “close to God” by following the ways of the Torah that God gave us at Sinai.)
I don’t think it’s so clear-cut whether a person can ever be fully content with his spiritual state and be satisfied with his spiritual achievements, as great as they may be. Why is this?
Of course, a person should be happy and pleased with his spiritual growth, so long as he doesn’t feel conceited and swollen with pride. I’ve heard from more than one great Rabbi that our generation is extremely immersed in physical efforts and tends to ignore spiritual interests, and therefore any spiritual growth — as small as it may seem — is in fact an enormous accomplishment.
However, despite the many obstacles all around us and inside us that seem to make spiritual growth difficult, our Talmudic Sages taught that we should always strive to improve ourselves. Everyone has their own capabilities, and only God can judge what those are, so we shouldn’t judge ourselves harshly. But we should at least realize that it’s possible that for each of us “the sky’s the limit”. In the words of our Sages, “A person should always ask himself, "When will my actions reach the level of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?"
