Do I actually need?

palashbauri1@gmail.com (Palash Bauri) — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 05:59:09 +0000

You get an infinite number of wishes — I wish I had a bicycle. Done. 2 weeks later, I wish a motorbike, Done. 1 week later, I wish a car, Done. ….few wishes later… I want a spaceship…

This point is, as you get infinite wishes, the cycle of wanting begins and at some point, you forget why you wanted a vehicle in the first place.

There is a poem by famous Nobel laureate Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore, named “ছাড়পত্র” (Charpatra), in that poem, a specific line is very interesting

“নদীর এপার কহে ছাড়িয়া নিশ্বাস, ওপারেতে সর্বসুখ আমার বিশ্বাস। নদীর ওপার বসি দীর্ঘশ্বাস ছাড়ে; কহে, যাহা কিছু সুখ সকলি ওপারে।”

It says, this shore of the river sighs, it is my belief, all the happiness is on the other shore; while the other shore sighs, every happiness is on the other shore. (It’s a rough translation, not word to word but the plain gist)

We want, what we don’t have; except, it is not always the case. Though there’s a difference between “need” and “want”; and the thin line separating them is so feeble that it becomes invisible to our mind.

At the beginning of the article, I presented a hypothetical “what if” scenario; at first I wanted a bicycle maybe because I needed it, but a spaceship? I don’t need it, but I want it simply because I can have it.

Having bread to survive, is a necessity but having caviar is a luxury.

The path is rather simple, “want” replaces “need” and the next thing you know, greed takes the trophy. This can happen knowingly or unknowingly.

This fluctuating river of wants creates a never-ending cycle of “dreams” thus we always try to make it a reality and in that process we become stuck, stuck in artificial slavery, making us lose the freedom of choice!

What if, a person has neither needs nor wants, no dream, no goal?

Choice? Like I have it. Freedom? Like i know it. Walls of glass, See it, but don’t ever touch. Prism of dreams, Hope it, Don’t ever do.

Psychology on Adventure of Palash Bauri

Do I actually need?