Reply to comment

I think Jean-Paul Sartre's "fact" that "We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are"(On Beauty, p. 326), is really interesting. I don't think we ever can really know what we want- what we think we want is often something entirely different than what we actually want. A lot of this probably relates to the consequences, or results- we'll think something has different results than it does, desire it, and then when we experience it, it's not as we thought it would be. I think knowing what we want is a problem, but one we greatly complicate, that can be made much simpler. I think that in the moment, we have an idea of what we want. We're motivated, in the moment, for something. Rather than thinking in the bigger scheme of things, if we just think for the moment of what we want, then maybe that moment is all that matters, right then. Maybe results and consequences should be thought about, but not the great extent of obsession, perhaps taking away from the thing we get that we've thought we've really wanted. The second part of the quote- that we are responsible for what we are- relates to our will, and the responsibility we have for our own decisions and paths. We don't know what we want in the bigger scheme, since we don't know how it will turn out, and it's the results that either benefit us, or do not. No matter, we're responsible for our choices, and for what we cause- ultimately, defining who we are. We can't- or, I guess we can, but we shouldn't, make excuses for ending up a certain way, or for consequences of actions that didn't turn out as planned. We spend too much time trying to figure out just what we want, that by the time we think we have it all planned out, the moment's gone and we have to figure it out all over again... and that's why we'll never really know what we want, but we do need to be responsible for now- for this moment, and for who we are.