By immersing ourselves in the subtle world of desires, we realize that our sense of "want" is not limited to a mere striving for something, but represents a deep aspiration to affirm our essence through experience and pleasure.

Navigating the Tension: The Boundary of Desire and Rejection

By immersing ourselves in the subtle world of desires, we realize that our sense of "want" is not limited to a mere striving for something, but represents a deep aspiration to affirm our essence through experience and pleasure. It is not simply the longing to receive something; rather, it is an attempt to fill life with wholeness, where every emotion plays an important role. However, if the intensity of this striving turns out to be insufficient, desire shifts into a state of rejection – into "don’t want". In this inner dialogue, we constantly compare our ambitions with reality, where the ideal of pleasure and the transience of experiences clash, causing a discrepancy between what we dream of and what we possess. It is precisely this tension that determines whether we remain in an active surge or sink into passivity. Ultimately, the boundary between desire and its absence is the result of our inner dialogue, in which the aspiration for the eternal and the absolute is constantly reevaluated in light of actual limitations. This process is dynamic and demonstrates the depth of our pursuit of self-expression, showing how almost imperceptible nuances of desire shape our perception of life.

How is the boundary between "want" and "don’t want" determined, and what shapes our understanding of this boundary?

Our understanding of the boundary between "want" and "don’t want" is determined not simply by the presence or absence of desire, but rather by the quality and completeness of the act of wanting itself. On one hand, when we experience desire, it is not just a striving to obtain something, but an attempt to affirm ourselves through the desired pleasure or state. However, if this desire does not possess the necessary intensity, if it is insufficient or turns out to be imperfect in its attempt to capture wholeness, then it automatically transitions into a state of "don’t want." As the author wrote:

"Not wanting to enjoy means – 'I want, but I want not enough.' Naturally, in the latter case the act of wanting is not always recognized; for it is always present: otherwise, I would not have thought about enjoyment. In seeking some specific pleasure, I want to affirm myself precisely in it. But I know that it is temporary; and therefore the desire is 'could like' (i.e., I don’t want enough) for it to always be mine..."
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Thus, the boundary is formed through the internal tension between the completeness of longing and its imperfection. If desire is directed towards something eternal or absolute, while reality turns out to be finite and limited, then the tension transforms into a negative perception – into "don’t want." This dynamic illustrates that our understanding of the boundary is defined by the clash of the ideal (desire in its perfect completeness) with reality, where what is desired is only partially manifested.

In summary, one can say that the boundary between "want" and "don’t want" is not a sharp line, but the result of an inner dialogue in which desire is constantly assessed in relation to our ambitions and expectations. It is the exclusiveness or inadequacy of desire with respect to our notions of the wholeness of pleasure or the meaning of existence that determines whether the feeling of activity and striving transitions into a state of rejection or passivity.