What do we want

We go to school, college and then to office. But for what? To earn some money so that we can sustain ourself by food, clothing and shelter. But thats not all that we want. If it had been, we would have stopped working after our basic need was fulfilled. Maslow has given some hierarchy of needs. If one need at lower level is satisfied (physiological, security, belongingness), we thrive for upper level ones (esteem and self actualization). But someone who is self actualized may still be dissatisfied and someone with so called lower level need of belongingness may be very satisfied. 

Satisfaction is concerned with whether one attains what one wants or not. But the question is what do we want? Money, fame, esteem, etc are just the means of what we actually want. Whether after attaining what we want makes us happy or not decides whether we are satisfied or not. 

This proves that what we want is happiness. We are searching for happiness in everything we do, expecting that happiness lies there. After we attain that means, we find that happiness is still not attained and we search for other means. More money, beautiful spouse, promotion, etc.  We experiment with the question 'where is happiness' a few times in our lives and then we die. 

The conclusion is we want happiness in life.