I'm not sure if you are asking this from a Law of Attraction point of view or not, but I'm going to answer from that viewpoint.

If you believe Abraham Hicks and other material with similar philosophies, then it's ok to want as much as we do, because we are powerful creators and have been put on earth in order to create our desires, and for that reason, we have an obligation to 'think big'.

Think about it, what would the world look like if people kept their wants/desires small? We're not only talking about wanting things like a big lottery win or a new car, all the famous inventors and artists and architects and humanitarians that we now know about wanted (whether consciously or subconsciously) to create something so great that many people thought of it as too much or too unattainable. Whether it was Martin Luther king Jr wanting to put an end to racial discrimination, or Gustave Eiffel wanting to build a 300 metre tower of iron that most people thought was a monstrosity at the time (and is now one of the top attractions in Paris). Even more 'shallow' wants, like great wealth, have often resulted in millions of jobs being created for other people.

So no, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong in wanting a lot. When I am consciously creating, I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok to want - but this is something I find difficult, because society has taught us not to be greedy. For example, when manifesting the job I have now, I put together a list of all the things I wanted in my ideal job, but I just didn't feel comfortable asking for a high salary. I didn't feel I 'deserved' it, and I found it difficult to shake that belief. So in the end, I got exactly what I asked for - a great job with a low-paying salary. Still, it's a big improvement to being unemployed, and I know that eventually I will have worked on my beliefs sufficiently to make more money.

I am also having this issue now with manifesting a relationship. When I am creating an image of my ideal partner, I find myself unconsciously downplaying my wants, and settling for less in my mind. Bad habit I gotta shake.

And regarding greed, according to Abe Hicks and others, greed comes from a scarcity mentality, not from having too many desires. Because if you truly believe that abundance is available for us all, then you can easily live in a world where both you and your neighbour can be rich - and also, you'd be more generous with what you had because you know there's more where that came from.

Then on the other hand, you also mention people that want too little... Well, they may not want much in terms of material goods, and that's ok, but how much do they want in terms of happiness and joy and love? Because these are very important desires to have as well.

I think that as long as we are a part of this 3dimensional reality where all things decay with time, there needs to be a constant replacement of the current with the next improvement.

So in a way we are hard-wired to naturally participate in the up-keep of this physical manifestation called reality.

So we desire as a requirement for existence within this reality.

The problem may not be that we desire. But rather that, the moment we desire, we create the experience of not being able to easily have it because the very act of desiring automatically prevents you from having it. Read my answer to this question for a better explanation for why that is.

http://www.inwardquest.com/questions/7033/sharing-something-helpful-when-i-completely-let-go-and-was-okay-with-not-having-what-i-wanted-things-turned-around-for-me

So perhaps the purpose of desire should be understood differently.

Maybe desire is a way pointer for your excitement, an indicator of your potentiality if you trust your excitement.

But maybe, we are not meant to follow each and every desire that awakens within us.

The desire instead becomes a representation of what is available for you because of who you are at this present moment in time.

It is as though you find yourself on vacation on a cruise ship and you are asked "what would you like to have for dinner tonight?"

All the ideas that come up in your mind represent your desire, because all those choices excite you and are available for you to have.

But you know that you cannot eat all of those things during this one meal, because you will be very sick indeed.

It will be rather silly for you to get upset over all the other choices that you have to pass up because you can't included them in one sitting.

I think desires should be looked upon the same way.

They should be seen as a representation of choice.

Once you make that choice, then you metaphorically consume that desire until you vibrate in harmony with having consumed that desire.

So even after you make your choice, you don't stay in a place of desiring it; you shift it from desiring it to already having it.

If you are not familiar with how to do that study the nature of your thoughts as you worry about things that have not happened to you.

You are doing that (worry) because you have absolutely commanded the power of faith that was bestowed upon you to shift an event from a desire of avoidance to a vibration of already happening to you. Every time you worry you are living in the moment of that event as if you are actually participating in it.

This is the exact nature in which one must envision that which they desire to participate in.

So you have to shift your desires to visions of living in the moment of them. You are doing that to get in touch with what it feels like to experience it.

Then you play that vision back as often as you like to inspire your self in the moment, to remind your self why you are doing what you do every day.(Job)

It's a fine point of balance where it is easy to go the other way and envision all that could go wrong, as if it has already gone wrong.

If you worry a lot this is what you are doing with the power that was gifted to you.

Fortunately just like desire all that you worry about doesn't come to pass all at once.

So just like worry, all that you desire won't happen when you want it.

What you have shifted to within "right now" is what you are most (and effortlessly) aligned with.

But then there is right now and RIGHT NOW.

If you are on a journey of a thousand steps the destination of that journey should always unravel in your mind as if you are already there, once again if you need guidance on how to do that study the nature of what you worry about.

But on that journey there are a thousand steps, so must you envision every one of those steps as completed right now?

How do you do that? how can you hold a vision of a thousand different steps as already competed?

You can't.

But you can stay in two potential outcomes.

You can hold your destination desire as a "right now" where every time you think it you are already there, and at the same time you tell the universe, "Tell me what must I do RIGHT NOW in order to get to my desired right now."

So at each point of reference you are always working from a place of "This is where I am, now how did I get here?" instead of "This is where I want to be, could you please please please show me how to get there.....please?"

So you are constantly interested in the next step right now by aligning vibrationally with the fulfillment of the eventual destination right now.

You next step is shown to you as the next most exciting choice right now.

If you stay within desire alone you are positioning your self in a place where you are "right now" vibrationally "not there yet"

And as long as you keep desiring, you are constantly vibrationally "not there yet" and this is the nature of your NOW.

I don't really want to toot my horn with these links but my answer here along with others deals with the whole "NOW" thing. http://www.inwardquest.com/questions/4235/what-is-the-now

So I'm not sure if a desire should be subdued.

I think instead, once a desire is chosen, it should be shifted from a desire to a living vision. Almost like an actor preparing for a role, you have to prepare yourself to live within the success of that desire and keep seeing that "living moment" in greater and greater detail and playfulness.

Children come into this world already knowing how to do this, to live within the vision of an event, to play in the envisioning of it; Then their well meaning parents snap them out of it.

Perhaps we should learn to play again; to play with and within the envisioning of our desire.

Desires are endless. The sooner you satisfy one another is there raising its hand for your attention. Even the Desire for having less is a desire. I feel a person with fewer desires is happier than one with more desires. To subdue your desires you need a certain amount of mental power, this makes you stronger and actually increases your power to manifest in case you do happen to desire something.

when you recognize that it
is difficult to exist alone
harnessing passions
preserves private space

the room some may need
to be comfortable, how much can i consume
at the expense of others

never go in extremes it will pull you back in the opposite extremes. find the middle road. experience and enjoy.

example of extremes that pull you back in the opposite extremes: someone that spend to much; and after his with out money bankrupt.

someone doing sport and going in the extremes hurt him self and his stuck many months with out doing his sport. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxURCBEZfZg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyjjSqwu6QE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=eDpwb5fMPc0

experience and enjoy.