Last night I was
thinking about the difference between the things we desire and what we
require and I wanted to share this. Mostly to ease a mind or two about
situational responses. While this should be common knowledge, I believe
most of us tend to forget and get lost in what we desire and that could
harm your relationships. Here is your refresher course.
Emotions are adaptations whose purpose is to solve basic ecological problems facing organisms (Darwin 1872). A want or need can be accurately identified by whether or not your emotional response was conscious or unconscious. If I'm not starving I will want something to eat, say a chocolate chip cookie. Wants are always a conscious decision, often fueled by emotions and the desire to feel better in some way. Without my body physically telling me so I decided that a cookie was a good idea, so since it was a conscious decision it becomes a want.
There aren't many things we need, and everything we need is based on survival and is a primal instinct--shelter, clothing, health care, social interaction, and consumption. If you're seriously injured your body goes into an acute stress response(fight or flight) and your emotional response isn't a cognitive one. You fear, you need safety/assistance, and you instinctively need these things.
I'll give another interesting example. If biologically speaking all of your needs must be satisfied first before you can even consider wanting something doesn't that mean reproduction qualifies as a want not a need? We instinctively require pair bonding and social interaction so that certifies it as a need, but mating and reproduction require cognitive thought and the desire often increases and decreases in time.
I just fucked your Saturday up. What are you going to do about it?
Emotions are adaptations whose purpose is to solve basic ecological problems facing organisms (Darwin 1872). A want or need can be accurately identified by whether or not your emotional response was conscious or unconscious. If I'm not starving I will want something to eat, say a chocolate chip cookie. Wants are always a conscious decision, often fueled by emotions and the desire to feel better in some way. Without my body physically telling me so I decided that a cookie was a good idea, so since it was a conscious decision it becomes a want.
There aren't many things we need, and everything we need is based on survival and is a primal instinct--shelter, clothing, health care, social interaction, and consumption. If you're seriously injured your body goes into an acute stress response(fight or flight) and your emotional response isn't a cognitive one. You fear, you need safety/assistance, and you instinctively need these things.
I'll give another interesting example. If biologically speaking all of your needs must be satisfied first before you can even consider wanting something doesn't that mean reproduction qualifies as a want not a need? We instinctively require pair bonding and social interaction so that certifies it as a need, but mating and reproduction require cognitive thought and the desire often increases and decreases in time.
I just fucked your Saturday up. What are you going to do about it?
