Wants vs. Needs vs. Ideas · How You Cancel Satisfaction
⁘ “Wants versus needs. Your physical body. Shelter from the elements and wildlife. A diet with well-rounded nutrients. But when ideas of more, of luxury and privilege, are fixed in our heads – what we want, what we deserve – nothing less will do. Then emotional needs. Feeling safe and at peace, being cared for, belonging. But we wish to be loved in a particular way, even adored, and if we don't get that, then we're sad. Our happiness and satisfaction is corroded by our ideas.”
Wants versus needs.
Your physical body.
What you need is shelter
from the elements and wildlife,
a place to lay your head upon,
a diet with well-rounded nutritions
to upkeep your body.
If there's a balanced spectrum of flavors,
salty, sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, astringent –
then that's a bonus.
It's good for you as well,
but it's not a strict day to day need.
Much less is it a true need
to camp in a luxurious mansion,
sleeping on the seven softest mattresses,
gulping down your dishes of choice from
the world cuisine, prepared by eminent chefs.
But when that idea has been fixed in our heads –
this is what we want, this is what we deserve –
we will not be satisfied with
a common meal and a mattress on the ground.
Speak not of our emotional needs,
where our basic needs are
basically feeling safe and at peace,
being cared for, belonging to a group or a community.
Again, our happiness and satisfaction
is corroded by our ideas.
We wish to be loved in a particular way, even adored,
and if we don't get that, then we are sad.
And a feeling of peace and safety will not be there
until our potential enemies
have been preemptively eliminated.
We are consumed by
our worries over ideas.