29 March, 2011

What do I "want"?

I've had sleepless nights and apprehensive weeks thinking about "What
do I want in life?". It has bugged me the most in my worst times. In
some ways, the thought is like a Dementor - sucks the life out of you.
Anyone who is seriously bugged by this question of life is stuck in
the "want-loop". An unsolvable unending loop which has only one
solution : realization.

"Wanting" something is based on our experiences of life. I "want"
chocolate ice-cream because I've had it before and I like the taste.
What about an eggplant-icecream? Argggh! I don't knowww! That is
because I've never tasted. How can I want it or NOT want it?

Thats the chicken-egg problem : One cannot "want" anything before
trying it out and we usually don't want to try out anything major
before really "wanting" it. This is an endless loop. We'll never try
out things before wanting them and we'll never want things before
trying them out. Aarrgghhhh again!

What about people who've already figured out life? They are either
ones who were forced into it somehow or they've already tried out a
bunch of things before they settled in.

Point is, and I've realized it only today, thinking about "what I
want" is pointless.. it better to just take the "leap of faith" and
see whether it works out. If it doesn't, you probably wanted the other
option. Anyway, you'll get the answer :-)

Happy ranting!

16 comments:

What's in the name said...

All a guy should want is no responsibilities and free food!

Ketaki said...

awesome.. i couldnt have out it in such good words... i did want to write something on this.. but this is really good enough :) will point my friends here..

Nachiket said...

bhari re !... liked the way you've put it ... asa loop kaayam astoch .. kadhi express jhaala naahi puN ... awadlay ! :)

Praj ~ said...

I don't think this is true.

akshaya said...

I agree!! Leap of faith!!!

Anonymous said...

I usually find that it's the small, inconsequential things which swing my decision on whether to take one course of action or another. It is clearly unscientific and not the right way to analyze things, but it's worked well for me so far.

अभिजीत said...

Even I don't think its completely true.

Generally person A wants something because he doesn't have it and person B has it. Swata try kelech pahije ase kahi nahi.

How can you explain "I want to try out new things in life" with your theory ?

Indrani said...

loved the way you've clearly written what you think :)

Jitesh Shah said...

@abhijit
"I want to do new things" has no decision associated with it. Its just an instinct.

What about -
quit your high-paying job for a full-time career in writing? Now that can invoke the question "what do I want in life".

Adwait Kulkarni said...

looking at our life as a journey rather than destination i completely agree... :) 'likes'

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Anonymous said...

Thank you for the work you have done into this article, it helps clear up a few questions I had.

Sameer said...

Exactly my thoughts, just put to words! Good to find I am not the only one out there who works this way.

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