Some people fill their lives with want. Wanting so many things to be different but making no effort to make things different. Some people use wanting as a way to distract themselves from what they truly need. They put their efforts into wanting the newest style, gadget, or thing so that they can’t see that they have actual needs and wants in their lives, because seeing that is too painful. Some people use want as a game, as something to spur their next adventure. Others use want as a tool to help them see into themselves and others, positively or negatively depending on their agenda.
But what about those who claim not to want? Those who say that they have all that they need or could ever desire? I have never met a true guru or buddha who I believe could make that claim and have it be the absolute truth. So when I hear that from someone I’m always suspicious. It is one of the gifts of human nature to always want something they do not yet have. This is one of the main sources of creativity and crafted beauty. Without want there is very little reason to be in a body at all. Want or lack of want are not in themselves moral questions nor are they actually associated with emotions. It is not immoral to want food nor does it mean that I’m unhappy if I want to take a walk.
Want is an acknowledgement that we have not yet reached our limits of what we can be. Want says that there is more to me, more to come, more to be than what I am in this moment. It is the awakening to our unfolding or it can be an attempt to hide from it. Claiming to not want or truly feeling that there is nothing that we want is a bit scary to me in that it signals stagnancy and an attempt to hold onto the status quo, which is like trying to hold back the tide with your hands. There are endless possibilities in the Universe and a short span of time to enjoy and explore even a limited amount of them. Why would you not want?
