LIFE'S BIGGEST PARADOX = OUR WANTS vs OUR NEEDS

What we want

vs

what we need

We are dealing with life’s biggest Paradox :  

The paradox of wants and needs.

We may want the moon. Or, even the Sun. Didn't you hear that some people were actually offering to sell land on the moon and some others buying it too. Often, our wants are like that.

But, what we need - may just be half a glass of water. Often, our needs are like that. This is the paradox of human life.

Let us take a closer look at the nature of our wants:

• It is a  well established ECONOMIC THEORY that human wants are UNLIMITED, and as each want is satisfied, ANOTHER WANT TAKES ITS PLACE. The whole science of Economics is based on this cardinal principle.
• We strive all our life for satisfying one want after other. But, nothing seems to end our stream of wants.
• Wants differ from individual to individual, and from time to time. For example, your wants in your childhood were different from those of your adolescence, which again were different from those of the youth, adulthood and old age.
• The Frequency, intensity and repetition of our wants (FIR) varies from individual to individual.
• Wants depend to a large extent - on our sensory and mental perception of the world.
• Wants depend largely on availability or potential availability of the want satisfying object. Not necessarily on availability to the individual wanting it – but its availability some where in the Universe.
• Wants may also go beyond such availability or even possibility of availability in future. In other words, wants can be hugely unrealistic.
• How do we satisfy such unrealistic wants? You have the medium of dreams!
• Wants need not necessarily arise out of needs.
• Unsatisfied wants, even the unrealistic wants – can cause as much suffering as unsatisfied NEEDS. 

There are many such characteristics of wants. We must recognize very clearly that our Wants are different from our NEEDS in many ways.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN

WANTS & NEEDS

Many people consider wants and needs as almost synonymous and same. This is incorrect.

• A child has many needs, but few wants.
• A saint has few needs and few wants.
• A student’s need is to read well. But his want may be different.
• A drunkard has the need for corrective therapy but not the want for it.

• Collectively, we need good governments, but individually, our want may propel us to vote in our person, however incompetent he or she may be. Collective needs may not coincide with individual wants.
• The earth provides every thing required for satisfaction of our needs – but not necessarily for our wants (or for our greed).
• MAN – A PRODUCT OF FIVE UNIVERSAL POWERS : We are a product of the five universal entities or universal powers, namely -  space, air, fire, water and earth. We are born as their product, grow as their product and finally dissipate and disperse back into them when we die. We periodically need to replenish these in us - for our survival, growth, health and continuity – in various ways. The five universal forces create these needs in us. And, they supply whatever is needed for satisfaction of these needs. This is all about the Life cycle.
• WANTS – AN OFF SHOOT OF OUR INTERNAL ENEMIES : While wants do arise for satisfaction of  our NEEDS, they also arise in us for other purposes. In ancient India, the negative emotions in us are equated with our biggest, internal enemies which cause unjustified wants in us beyond our justified needs. These enemies are - Kaama (undue desires), Krodha (anger), Lobha (Greed), Moha (Lust), Madha ( Pride), Maatsarya (enmity) and Bhaya (Fear). These thieves  sitting right inside us are said to be constantly robbing us of our most precious wealth – namely, our happiness. When modern economics talks of unlimited wants – we must understand that many (but not all) of such unlimited wants arise out of these negative emotions in us.
• NEEDS SAME – WANTS DIFFER : NEEDS of human beings are approximately same or similar. But, our Wants differ in infinite ways from one person to another.
• 5 QUOTIENTS & THEIR NEEDS : It is sometimes described that our needs are food, clothing and shelter only. This simplistic identification is incorrect. Human being is not a mere physical body. He has a thinking mind which has its needs, an emotional heart which has its needs, a social group to interact with, which has its needs and some thing  beyond all these in him – which requires things like peace, self awareness and so on. All these are needs. We will deal with the 5 QUOTIENTS  of the human being and their needs in more detail in the next Post.
• CONFLICTS : Your need and my need are usually not in conflict with each other. Nature provides the need and also the means to satisfy the need for both of us. Conflict between you and me is almost always between (i) your want and my need (ii) my want and your need and (iii) my want and your want – but very rarely between my need and your need.

This discussion makes it amply clear that equating wants with needs is wrong, and equating needs with mere food, clothing and shelter is equally wrong.

Most of the time, we are ignoring our needs and going after needless wants. A proper and clear perspective on needs is needed to eliminate these needless wants from our life.  

Our focus in Life must first be to fulfill our needs. If  we can make our wants and needs to synchronize and coincide, our efforts will result in immense fulfillment in our life. This must therefore be our life’s primary focus.  

We will therefore examine our needs (and wants) with reference to our five quotients in greater detail in the next Post.

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