Wants and Needs

The remaining part of this command carries similar themes to the last two, so I'm going to lay out this commandment again in its full form. 

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s." Exodus 20:17

Now where I'm going with this article is this. Much of what people think they need is not a necessity. They only 'need' it because they are trying to keep up with the current trends. Think about it. In the world of fashion, few needs are met, it really boils down to keeping in style. 

Let us use smartphones as an example. Lots of people upgrade to larger, newer, faster models because they think the need a new one. In my experience, if I take care of what I have, it lasts longer, and it suits my needs just fine. Same with cars, computers, homes, clothes, etc. 

So we need to learn how to separate what we want (and why we want it) from our real needs. I'm not saying you can't have luxuries or nice things. But back to pride, do we need it because we need it, or do we need it because our ego needs it?  

Are we really that starved for attention?  Do we really need to impress others in order to be satisfied?  If that worked, then we would be satisfied. But it's not working is it?  The more we seek the indulgence, the less satisfying it becomes. Some of the least happy people are those that have the most earthly goods. And yet why are they always seeking more?  

They want more because it success in the eyes of their peers they are seeking. They want to impress their friends and families. Yes they want the conveniences too and as far as that goes it is fine. But they are looking for happiness in the wrong places. 

There is a path that leads to happiness and it can be walked regardless of these wants and needs. Often our wants are driven by fear that if we don't obtain it that somehow we will lose out on something. This fear leads to regret, an unhappiness over what might have been. That is really sad to regret something that was never even very important, something that was never a necessity.