Is it better to want something you can never have, or to spend your life having no desire for anything?

Question

Is it better to want something you can never have, or to spend your life having no desire for anything?

Answer 1

tricky.

longing, hoping is a driving force for people to live, to work, to act.

you need to long for something. if you don't, you might as well be dead.

but if you get this thing, and become wishlessly happy...

what then?

Answer 2

It is better to want something you can never have because while trying to get it, maybe other things become yours on the way.  Having no desire for anything is almost a waste of life.

Answer 3

It is always better to have an aim in life and struggle hard to  achieve it . It makes ones life meaningful.

Answer 4

I reckon they're both at the bottom of the ladder but I suppose self-pity would be a half step above apathy.

Then again, you could re-word it and jump to the top of the ladder by asking why one would cultivate a total lack of desire when the chances of success  are practically nil.

At any rate, how one feels, at any given moment, is irrelevant. The question is: What am I doing? Not literally, but intentionally. "What is my intention?".  Not the intentions you claim out loud, but your real intentions. The intentions you hide by lying to yourself. Dig that up. It's damned difficult but you'll laugh at yourself in the end and feel much better.

Answer 5

If there is nothing you desire then you have no goals, with out goals you aren't motivated, when you lack motivation you feel depressed! Depression is the inability to motivate yourself to any given goal or desire. Sometimes this is medical, sometimes it's social, or sometimes it just means that you are at the bottom of your natural rhythmic cycle and things will get better tomorrow!

Answer 6

Desiring something you can never obtain is as hopeless as not desiring anything, but if you know you can never obtain it, it will only torment you. On the other hand it does give your life slightly more meaning, but is meaning worth pain and suffering?

If you don't desire then you still have meaning (who said meaning came from desire?) but you need to ask yourself the question: Am I really living at all?

Desire is a spice of life and sometimes that spice can burn our tongues, but at least it gets rid of the same old bland flavours we will inevitably get sick of.

Answer 7

I think it's better to want something you can never have. After all, motivation is what drives everyone to accomplish something or another, and spending your life having no desire for anything just seems meaningless. After all, you can't always have what you want, but you should always work for it, and I think it's just a small part of life that makes us human.

Answer 8

It's a fckd situation, kind of like life. The lesser of the two evils, to chose between. Neither of the two choices are fair in their own way. Therefore, it becomes a pointless question.

Answer 9

I would say, it's better to want something that you might impossible to have them rather spending time without desire for anything.

We all have dreams and aspirations.

I believe the metamorphosis of a dream to reality takes place in three phases, that is : thought, words and action.

Every reality has its source in a seed thought (dream). When your words (spoken, written) are in line with the dream/thought that is the second phase. You say you have realized your dream or made your dream come true when you are able to act and do whatever you dreamed of. Hence action is the final phase.

Regarding to your question, I usually use a simple way : "Just Do It" - three simple words yet so powerful and almost magical. If you practiced it, you can make miracles happen instead of waiting for them…you can turn your dreams into reality!

Answer 10

It is better to want something you can never have, because to have no desire for anything makes life meaningless, a void. Even if wanting something you can never have makes you miserable it is better to have misery then to have nothing at all.

Answer 11

...having no desire for anything...i'd be happy and not in trouble...

...please, its a choice, i can live with...thanks for asking...

Answer 12

Yes, it is! Grasp something as you can as make dreams come true.

Answer 13

It is better to want something you can never have, we all experience this constantly in our everyday lives, but still go through our lives without it affecting us dramatically. Without this desire it makes life meaningless, there is no longer motives for us to strive and have goals. We may never have it but it doesn't give us a reason not to try.

Answer 14

Neither. Wanting something you can't have is a waste of energy, spending your life having no desire for anything is just a total waste.