Is your preference wanting or having?

Answer 1

dont be so absoloutist (sry i cant spell)

its both. i want so i can have but i will grow tired of having and always want again

Answer 2

The seemingly obvious answer is "having." I mean why would you want to be in a state of longing?

But there are several reasons and examples why I think most of us find "having" boring and live instead for the chase.

Wanting gives us a purpose for what we do. Think of a time when you saved money for something you wanted. Personally, I have never been more financially disciplined than when I was saving for a car. (Now that I have a car, sometimes it is just a huge pain in the butt, and it is a pretty nice car...) I had a clear sense of vision, a goal, and the discipline to pull it off. Once I had it, I had to find something else to work toward. And it is a lot harder to make the monthly payments than it is to have brought it home from the dealer.

Which kind of leads into reason/example 2: When you are in a state of wanting you have only optimistic expectations about how the reality of having will be. When I thought about having my car, I had no idea that three weeks after getting it home, I would be in a 7000 dollar accident. I had no idea that I would have to pay 3 dollars a gallon. I had no idea that traffic sucked so bad, and I didn't think so much about how my partying days had slowed down and that I owed all my friends at least a dozen nights each of being the designated driver. None of these things were part of wanting my car...when I had it they were all a part of the reality of having it.

And my third reason/example is that when you want but don't have, to an extent you have an excuse for a whole host of things. Being unhappy, being unsuccessful, being stuck, being less than. Nothing is scarier than imagining your future fully supplied with everything you ever dreamed you wanted or needed and you still aren't successful, happy, or satisfied. Of course the example comes to mind how miserable some very wealthy people are, despite having their every want supplied for them. I guess this kind of implies that wanting is a state of having hope...where having is a state of dealing with your blessings warts and all.

Last thing to say is much more down to earth. Ever spent days on a certain level of a video game, only to break through it or finish the game...and suddenly lose interest in the whole game? It happens to me all the time. And this is another very vivid example of how wanting is more satisfying than getting.

I do think that a milestone of spiritual maturity is getting over some of this and learning to be content with what you have, pacing your wants carefully to get your needs and wants met without this being at the expense of someone else...as well as a person's needs and wants being the same.

Answer 3

Very good question, Grasshopper. Imagine yourself sitting on the floor looking at a wrapped box in front of you. While it remains unopened you can imagine it contains the most beautiful thing in the known universe. What is it? Is it an expensive wristwatch? The keys to your new car? A token of love from the person your heart desires most? It can be any or all of these things. It probably can't be an elephant, though.
To open it is to ruin the suspense; to find that it's just another novel, or a blue shirt. When you don't like blue.

Truly, Grasshopper, the human mind achieves its greatest moments in the wanting, not in the getting.

Answer 4

Well, it's tricky. If you always have, you can never use, because then you would want, as there would then be a deficiency of having. If you perpetually want, then that assumes that you will perpetually not have.

It's a balance.

This reminds me of Socrates talking to Polus in the Gorgias by Plato. He asks him "Would you rather have jars of food that were filled and sealed, or jars full of holes that you must constantly fill" Socrates chose the former, Polus chose the latter. The SMARTER of the TWO would be the first, however, as Homer says "Moderation in all things is best"

I choose both.

Answer 5

Wanting and having are one in the same.
To want is to desire attainment. To have is to attain what one desires.

Answer 6

I already have everything that I need.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 7

Neither, just seach for your own truth, not others.

Answer 8

neither