Striving to Achieve
Western society sets a high value on striving to achieve, desire for material gains, physical appearance, and status. This is driven by our societal values which are reinforced through the media, Hollywood, and our economic system. This is in stark contrast to eastern philosophy of acceptance of what is, where desires are seen as the cause of suffering, and quiet contemplation is considered a virtue.
Now this doesn't mean that striving to achieve is a bad thing, and it doesn't mean that a Buddhist doesn't strive to achieve, what sets them apart is how they perceive that achievement, or not, of the particular desire or goal. In western society we consider materialism and status an integral part of who we are as a person. If we own a flash car (obviously I don’t mean a Ford….) then people will consider us successful and treat us differently. What is more troubling however is that if we fail to get that nice car, then we consider ourselves a failure and a lesser person because we are not successful. The difference between this approach and the eastern philosophies is that it is recognized that desire is the cause of emotional suffering, not the fact you didn't get that car, but the suffering is caused by the importance you place on having that car and thinking that without the car you are a lesser person. In the west our economic capitalist system is all about consumption and as such driving consumer demand is the sole focus of commercial advertising agencies. They make us relate to their products as if having that product will make us a better and more successful person. It’s drilled into us from the moment we start comprehending as a child. Consumerism is not a bad thing, the way we react to it is bad. The greatest misconception of eastern philosophies is that the elimination of desire means giving up on any goals and not striving to achieve. This is completely the wrong thinking. Elimination of desire still means you set goals to achieve, but you eliminate the attachment to the outcome. If you achieve the car or not makes no difference to who you are, what is important is that you strived and lived each moment. You do everything you can to strive to achieve, but whether you actually achieve the desired outcome is irrelevant to how you feel about yourself and who you are as a person.