why do human beings want what they can't have?

I didn't know what to put this under, but i have a question. Why do human beings always want what the can't have.

Because if we were content to sit down and simply enjoy the scenery, we would never experience the joy of walking the path.

Our brains were designed as perpetual motivators for our physical shell, they keep us going to prevent torpor. Most people, like most sharks..must swim.

Like most sharks? So....you are saying all people must swim? I do not know of any sharks that could survive without the ability to swim. Maybe they could evolve though.....

Greed and jealousy are probably part of it. We are also lead to believe by our surroundings that the one who gets/collects the most "toys" wins. We are told that money and what it can buy will make us happy. That is not true but we are led to believe this. We try to fill up our lives with "stuff" to make us happy, we feel like there is something missing.

[edit on 15-3-2005 by dbrandt]

Ego. Our ego is the most driving factor in our desires and wants.
A conscious ego doesn't desire materialistic things and knows it's limitations. An unconscious ego (one never kept in check) only wants, wants, wants.

Worldwatcher
Freud was a fraud..a fraud who wanted to have sex with his mother.

I don't dispute conscious motivations..I dispute the intelectual legacy of a man who wanted to have sex...with his mother.

Originally posted by alias101
I didn't know what to put this under, but i have a question. Why do human beings always want what the can't have.

It's not so much that people want what they can't have, but rather that they seek to know, and extend, their limits. Without that push, without that drive, we would not advance. True, we often fail, but it's not in our nature to accept the idea of something being completely impossible. At best, we'll say that it's impossible for the moment. Even when that's done, it seems to act more as an impetus that drives people to find a way to make it not impossible.

Honestly, this Quixotic impulse is, to me, pretty admirable.

I think no matter what we have, a little , or, a lot, humans will always want more, because in our minds it may make us happier, or, look better than others. But, once we have it we find out it wasn't that imporant to start with anyway. Yet, after getting what we want, we move on to something else that we will want .again, its a need to be happy..and for some a need to look better than others, to say ..'I have more than you'..that's just my opinion.


[edit on 18-3-2005 by angeleyes101]

All I've got to say is

"You can't Always get what you Want"

and

"Don't Know What You Got 9till It's Gone)"

Isn't one of the central tenets of buddhism to relieve yourself of all "wants", and once you have done that, you have reached nirvana?

It's part of a natural instinct.

Everyone is looking for a higher puropse, some meaning, or just something to make them mgically happy. No matter how good it gets, there's something better out there, and we keep looking for it. If we stay still and do no t go forward, in some sort of way, we stagnate, in thought, actions or whatever. We already know that Althimerz (and I know it may not be spelled right) is made much worse when people get into habits and quit thinking things out....i.e. stop learning new things. Old folks who sit down in their rocker when they retire and do nothing with their remaining lives die within a few years, often months. Older people whose lives revolved around their mate, when their mate dies, if they have nothing to do with themselves, they die a few months later. If we stop progressing, we lose the essence of what it means to be human. We never reach perfection, and often degenrate from the point where we give up. Because of this, I will find something to do with my life until my dying day. There is not a single other choice left out there.

What is your goal in life?
If it is the accumulation of Material things, then you will never have enough, and someone will always have a bigger boat, car, diamond that you do not possess.

if it is to help people, then you will always be busy, and recieve great satisfaction from your work. You may even receive material wealth, who knows.

Our society is based upon the next generation electronic devive, bigger TV, faster car, credit card debt and consumer expansion. eventually it will cave in since it cannot be supported. good riddance i say.

Originally posted by alias101
I didn't know what to put this under, but i have a question. Why do human beings always want what the can't have.

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.