After about a decade of trying to find the answer to the question - "what do you want?" - finally figured it out.
Ask and you shall receive was really a terrible predicament. It might seem like a rich kid trying to decide what to choose from the options available, each of which would hold a value greater than what a needy person might want in 8 generations! The true issue with this line of thought is that everyone presumes everybody else's value systems are the same. No matter how similar the portion of a circle may actually be, it's always the other half we wish we'd chosen. In addition, the feeling of being inadequate always seems to arise after the choice has been made. Strangely, this behavior only seems to affect the humans, as every other creature so far observed, seems to have lost its appetite, the moment it's need is fulfilled.
Another thought which predominantly supersedes the selection of a particular want is the knowledge of a conditional prize. Historically speaking, most of mythology from the ancient world is filled with examples of a blessing or a boon eventually being broken. For instance, one of the most well known stories is that of the king Hiranyakashyap having obtained a sort of shield against getting slain by - either a man, woman or an animal, neither in day or at night. Eventually, out of arrogance of having acquired a great power, he asks his devotee son Prahallad 'why do you pray to an unknown God when I am the all powerful being right in front of you?' Seeing a devout and pious kid in trouble, God decides to help and comes over in the form of a human body with a lions head, at dusk and shears the cruel kings abdomen causing him to die without breaking the boon/blessing.
Regardless of the factual basis of the story, the thing to learn is - there's always a workaround and nothing is really foolproof. There is always a catch! Having gained such wisdom, what could you possibly ask for, knowing for certain that you'll somehow or the other have to pay for? And if you are going to pay for it, wtf bother asking in the first place, especially when its going to generate an obligation?
Allow me to give an example. Popularly speaking, one of the most frequently desired 'wants' of an employee is a raise/hike in pay. The thing which none of these employees bargained for is the expectation of the employer to expect at least as much more work as is deserving of the hike. Obviously, this ends up translating into additional work load in addition to what was being delivered before the hike, we know only too well that it ends up translating to longer work hours and increased peer pressure, in the end the demands at home in terms of spending quality time increases and there comes a time when you don't know where the additional money went or it may just be uselessly sitting in a bank account because you gotta work the weekends or late nights to cover up the added responsibilities. Your health starts to deteriorate as the body struggles to cope and keep up with the demands it was never designed for!
All of this translates to one thing - stress. And that my friend is how you end up paying for that raise you thought you got just because you asked for and got. Try again tomorrow, after you have had a chance to sleep over it and ask yourself again - what do you really want? Add the disclaimer too - what & how are you willing to pay for it?
There will come a point when you'll start understanding this - God's dynamic - as I like to call it. That is the real deal. That is when the conversations, discussions and emotional arguments start. Fun times in flashback, but devilish hell while going through it.
Knowing it, is in itself a kind of relief because it's reassuring to find out you aren't the only one. As much as the inner voice of an egoistic winner may complain about being #1, the fact remains that being the only one of a kind, ahead of all others - is a very lonely place. Moreover, the concept of ranking in itself arises out of striving to continually improve "as compared to others." In simpler terms, if there are no others, there won't be any #1., it'll remain the only one!
Eventually, all of it seems to come down to the quintessential - society. The one thing that folks are ideally not supposed to do, is to compare. That is supposedly one of the universally accepted ideals. Yet, at every instance of physical and mental change in an individual's life, aka growth from infancy-adolescence-maturity, the only measure used to asses the performance till that point, is comparison.
Btw, did you really think I'd actually mention what it truly is, for me, that I wanted? Okay, here's a clue - you already know it! ;-)
Ask and you shall receive was really a terrible predicament. It might seem like a rich kid trying to decide what to choose from the options available, each of which would hold a value greater than what a needy person might want in 8 generations! The true issue with this line of thought is that everyone presumes everybody else's value systems are the same. No matter how similar the portion of a circle may actually be, it's always the other half we wish we'd chosen. In addition, the feeling of being inadequate always seems to arise after the choice has been made. Strangely, this behavior only seems to affect the humans, as every other creature so far observed, seems to have lost its appetite, the moment it's need is fulfilled.
Another thought which predominantly supersedes the selection of a particular want is the knowledge of a conditional prize. Historically speaking, most of mythology from the ancient world is filled with examples of a blessing or a boon eventually being broken. For instance, one of the most well known stories is that of the king Hiranyakashyap having obtained a sort of shield against getting slain by - either a man, woman or an animal, neither in day or at night. Eventually, out of arrogance of having acquired a great power, he asks his devotee son Prahallad 'why do you pray to an unknown God when I am the all powerful being right in front of you?' Seeing a devout and pious kid in trouble, God decides to help and comes over in the form of a human body with a lions head, at dusk and shears the cruel kings abdomen causing him to die without breaking the boon/blessing.
Regardless of the factual basis of the story, the thing to learn is - there's always a workaround and nothing is really foolproof. There is always a catch! Having gained such wisdom, what could you possibly ask for, knowing for certain that you'll somehow or the other have to pay for? And if you are going to pay for it, wtf bother asking in the first place, especially when its going to generate an obligation?
Allow me to give an example. Popularly speaking, one of the most frequently desired 'wants' of an employee is a raise/hike in pay. The thing which none of these employees bargained for is the expectation of the employer to expect at least as much more work as is deserving of the hike. Obviously, this ends up translating into additional work load in addition to what was being delivered before the hike, we know only too well that it ends up translating to longer work hours and increased peer pressure, in the end the demands at home in terms of spending quality time increases and there comes a time when you don't know where the additional money went or it may just be uselessly sitting in a bank account because you gotta work the weekends or late nights to cover up the added responsibilities. Your health starts to deteriorate as the body struggles to cope and keep up with the demands it was never designed for!
All of this translates to one thing - stress. And that my friend is how you end up paying for that raise you thought you got just because you asked for and got. Try again tomorrow, after you have had a chance to sleep over it and ask yourself again - what do you really want? Add the disclaimer too - what & how are you willing to pay for it?
There will come a point when you'll start understanding this - God's dynamic - as I like to call it. That is the real deal. That is when the conversations, discussions and emotional arguments start. Fun times in flashback, but devilish hell while going through it.
Knowing it, is in itself a kind of relief because it's reassuring to find out you aren't the only one. As much as the inner voice of an egoistic winner may complain about being #1, the fact remains that being the only one of a kind, ahead of all others - is a very lonely place. Moreover, the concept of ranking in itself arises out of striving to continually improve "as compared to others." In simpler terms, if there are no others, there won't be any #1., it'll remain the only one!
Eventually, all of it seems to come down to the quintessential - society. The one thing that folks are ideally not supposed to do, is to compare. That is supposedly one of the universally accepted ideals. Yet, at every instance of physical and mental change in an individual's life, aka growth from infancy-adolescence-maturity, the only measure used to asses the performance till that point, is comparison.
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