Is it better to wish or to want?

Answer 1

Reading some of the responses already, I think a clarification of Wish or Want is required.

What is a wish? It is a dream, and fanciful thought that acknowledges a desire and at the same time acknowledges a resignation to not achieve it.

To want is to actively pursue a wish. To study, develop, grow as required in order to gain your wish. To want something in itself is not bad. To want something recognises that ability of the dreamer to get what they wish for.

When one develops an 'agenda' (i.e. becomes single minded, obsessed) then a want becomes destructive, turns to greed, etc. The dreamer becomes oblivious of the impacts they leave on the world and people around them.

Wishing does not get you anything. Sometimes your wishes may be granted and that is simply luck. Wanting something means you think you can have it. It gives you motivation, drive and purpose. Obsessive desire is the dark side of wanting.

It is better to rationally want than to desperately wish.

Answer 2

I don't know which one is better but I feel want means greed, need or lack of something. Wishes have a different flavor to it. You wish for something and if they are fulfilled you are ecstatic and if unfulfilled, disappointment is not very big, after all, it was only a wish. Wants have a desperate ring to it, an urgency and if not fulfilled can make you desperate. I am a laid-back person, my wants are minimum and wishes many. Mostly those wishes are fulfilled in my dreams.......Ha ha!

Answer 3

I think it's better to wish, like the saying goes, a wish is what your heart makes

Answer 4

I wish for world peace, because I know that it's never really going to happen. For as old as mankind is, peace throughout the world has never been a reality.
I want better credit and new curtins. These are things that are within my power to obtain. Wishing seems so mystical, wanting seems much more realistic.
It's far better to dream and hope than to wish or want, dreamwalker.

Answer 5

It is, according to me, better to wish than to want because if you want something very eagerly and get deceived at the end from not getting what you wanted, it really pains. BUT when you wish for something, you just take it out from your heart and lay it at the feet of the Lord without expecting it to become true. In this lies the greatest joy. Then, one day, something wished for happens unexpectedly and it brings you a sweet smile when this reminds you what you really did!

Answer 6

You have had some pretty interesting questions tonight ! :o)

I think it depends on your point of reference for better. Spiritually, it is better to wish, because the fulfillment of a wish brings about pervasive, unbridled joy. Want is more of a desire kind of thing and the satisfaction of a desire brings about a much shorter lived sense of happiness because it is a much more common occurrence and therefor more transient than the fulfillment of a wish, aka dream. However, on the physical plane, want is a stronger need than wish.

Answer 7

The latter. A wish is merely a wish. It is relatively passive in comparison to "want", which has a more active connotation.

To put it simply, a wish is liken to a dream or a vision, and a vision without action is illusion. I humbly think one would take action IF he really wants it. Though this does not apply to all.

Answer 8

What we Want is what we Need. When we Want something, we stand up and go for it all by ourselves. BUT ...wishing is what , after wait and persistence, gives way to wanting what we need; and at the end of the day what is evolved is wishing...So wish is the base.; but its incomplete with out wanting.

Take care...

Answer 9

Both similar in some ways really.
I'd hate to wish for something that came true that I'd regret later though like wishing someone would drop dead lol unless they really did deserve it that is.

Answer 10

To want... wishing usually ends up with the wisher being being unhappy if the wish is not granted. Wishing also does not promote effort on the wisher. If no one worked for what they want there would be no appreciation for what they had.
Like my mother always said....
wish in one hand...s**t in the other.
I'd rather want and work towarfs it that way if I don't receive I have no one to blame but me.