In my world of limited awareness, I perceive a reality of separateness because I believe I lack wholeness. Wants and needs serve my mind as tools to validate this perception and belief. That is, unless I’m confused. Because my mind knows only wants and needs, it may see everything as a problem of lack to be solved.
“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” (Maslow, 1966, Law of the Instrument cognitive bias)
My sense of separateness, along with a desire for wholeness, subjects my problem-solving mind to serve that paradox. The paradox defends my belief in lack fulfillment.
The concept of achieving wholeness out of separateness is “The Impossible Dream.” It’s an invitation to live in a paradoxical reality of want and need fulfillment.
A Paradoxical Intention
My paradoxical intention applies want and need to my experience to achieve no want or need. Wants and needs can feel confusing, even when I‘m confident I know the difference. Like when I know I’m choosing and when I’m not.
My initial intention is a general sense of lack of wholeness. My mind adjusts the general and undefined sense of lack by defining intention as wants and needs. And by attaching what and how I achieve fulfillment as a means for want and need to express as manifestation. My mind uses want and need as tools to serve intention.
- Want expresses intention to increase or gain – using more options.
- Need expresses intention in terms of survival, a defense against loss – using fewer options.
I get confused when I think my want is a need and vice versa. Both wants and needs support my intention to be whole. They define reasons that motivate me to advance towards my image of wholeness.
Thus, mind solves the paradox of intention by creating an image of wholeness my intention senses has been served.
Unconfusing Wants and Needs in Lack Fulfillment
My intention to be whole results in a general perception of lack. My mind sees lack as a problem and gets to work solving it. To find and apply a solution, my mind categorizes intention into definable expressions of wants and needs.
Needs define intention as a survival problem with few options. By narrowing the field of options, need applies a specific direction for fulfillment toward survival fulfillment. Want tends to broaden awareness to expand options for fulfillment.
To clear the confusion and become aware of my hidden intentions, I might question my wants and needs. Those concerns that don’t qualify as needs must be wants. For example:
- What do I need? (What action/thing do I feel will satisfy my intention to live?)
- How necessary is it? (For example, “How likely is it that I will actually die if I don’t fulfill the need?”)
- Why do I need it? (What are my justifications? What lack do I feel this fills?)
- Who am I with and without fulfillment of this need?
