Desire aims at eternalizing itself rather than annihilating itself

Evidence

Actually it is not exact to say that a Thirst tends toward its own annihilation as thirst; there is no consciousness which aims at its own suppression as such. Yet thirst is a lack, as we pointed out earlier. As such it wishes to be satisfied; but this satisfied thirst, which would be realized by synthetic assimilation in an act of coincidence of the For-itself-desire or Thirst with the For-itself-reflection or act of drinking, is not aimed at as the suppression of the thirst. Quite the contrary the aim is the thirst passed on to the plenitude of being, the thirst which grasps and incorporates repletion into itself as the Aristotelian form grasps and transforms matter; it becomes eternal thirst. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 385

Categorization

• XREF: The Aristotelian form-matter parallel ties Sartre’s ontology back into the Greek metaphysical tradition; also connects to Beauvoir’s account of desire’s ambiguity. — connects to: For Sartre, the For-itself is constituted by desire, so annihilating desire destroys consciousness itself. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 59; Desire is defined by its transcendent object, not by pursuit of pleasure — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 972; Desire seeks self-coincidence that structural impossibility guarantees vanishing upon fulfillment. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 386 (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox that satisfaction aims at eternalizing the thirst rather than ending it is a dense, counterintuitive claim about the structure of desire worth sitting with.
• SEED: Essay angle: how this Sartrean structure of desire—aiming at its own eternalization rather than satisfaction—illuminates modern consumerism and the ‘experience economy.‘

Broader Connections

• Desire is defined by its transcendent object, not by pursuit of pleasure #qualifies (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 972