[piva00]

But wanting something is not limited to wanting physical things, consuming things. You might want to get better at a sport, to learn how to make pottery, want to express yourself through art, so on and so forth.

It's not weird to not want to purchase things, it's actually pretty liberating, but it's extremely unlikely that you do not have any "wants" as in things you'd like to do or achieve.

Not sure if I interpreted your comment correctly, to me it really sounded very narrowly focused on wanting "things" (as in physical products) which I don't think is the point.

[thevania]

sorry for not clear formulation

exactly as you say, you either want something physical aka want a thing, or you want to accomplish something aka a goal - be better at sport etc, that's a goal - i tried to reflect on both of these alternatives in my original comment, just to expand on that example - you don't need goals to enjoy sport, like i do a lot of running but i don't do competitive running as i don't feel the need to measure myself against others to enjoy running

in fact that's a very good point - thank you for that - i feel having goals is just a "mental trick" to push yourself in some direction, to try to create some "structure" in the unstructured world we live in, one could say a desperate try to "map" the way forward via creating some steps you can follow to happiness... aka i do this then i will be happy, i achieve this, i become better at sport, i run a marathon under X etc, and i will be happy... when i put it like this, doesn't it start to sound silly as a concept? that was the only point i tried to make

[piva00]

> aka i do this then i will be happy, i achieve this, i become better at sport, i run a marathon under X etc, and i will be happy... when i put it like this, doesn't it start to sound silly as a concept? that was the only point i tried to make

This is still too narrowed down, you can just "want to run a marathon", not with a specific time in mind, you just feel like you want to try that. It's quite impossible you only stumble upon doing things without having a want, all of your examples can be a much simpler want: "I want to run", whatever the motivation "I think it'll make me happy", "I feel it might improve my physical fitness", "I just want to try". Those are all wants, not goal-oriented, you simply want to do things.

I can't see how someone can live without wants, even just doing things the way you like to approach them and described here:

> where i found joy and happiness is in doing "good deeds" - try helping someone, make them smile, make their day better and see how will that make you feel, similarly in my professional life - i decided to focus only on what i enjoy and that is solving problems, the harder the challenge the better it makes me feel - the thrill that we are onto something and once one challenge is done i move to another and i feel again alive - that i have a purpose and couldn't possibly be more helpful / create more "good" in any other way

Are wants. You want to do good deeds, you want to solve problems, you live by wants.

[anthonypasq]

goals are determined by wants