Liking, Lusting, Loathing

Interesting article in the June 2010 Harvard Business Review. Prof. Uzma Khan and colleagues did a study in which they awarded a gift card to an electronics store to people who completed a word puzzle. Half the recipients earned the prize on their first try; half had tried to win it before but failed. Before receiving a card, all were asked how much they'd pay to obtain it. People who'd previously been denied the prize were willing to pay much more but then were more likely to trade their card away when offered the chance to exchange it for a different card.

Commenting on her study, Prof. Khan noted, "Desire and liking are independent from each other and also interact in strange ways. The more we want something, the less we'll actually like it. It's a lusting/loathing thing...When people can't get access [to something like an exclusive night club], it becomes especially attractive. They'll work hard to get past the velvet rope. But once they're in, they often say, 'This is it?'"

Sounds like 2 Samuel 13: Amnon was sick with desire for his half-sister Tamar, but once he raped her, "Amnon hated her with a very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (13:15). Obviously, Amnon/Tamar is on a much greater scale than that which Prof. Khan discussed; and yet, desires run amok for the idols of the heart are almost always disappointed.

There is only one who satisfies: "taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8).

Reformation 21