Coyote and Road Runner, an Unusual Narrative

Zizek: “A desire is never simply the desire for a certain thing. It’s always also a desire for desire itself, a desire to continue desiring.”

Unusual narratives are interesting thought experiments. Analysing them usually reveals interesting insights. In this clip, we witness a rather unusual narrative.  In this narrative, Coyote’s life-long wish is accomplished, but he does not seem satisfied. Why?
We all know Coyote badly wanted the Road Runner. His wanting comprised from two wishes:
1- Desiring the Road Runner
2- Desiring to desire the Road Runner.
Figure below is an attempt to illustrate this:

Why I illustrated a desire as a loop? Because a desire starts by demanding an object and finishes by having it — or at least it seems to be. If the desire is not fulfilled, the loop of wanting continues. Here, I’m particularly interested in ‘desire to desire’.

So why after catching the Road Runner, Coyote seems deeply melancholic? I claim this is because Coyote was in love with desiring to desire. Coyote had countless of fantasies about catching the Road Runner. Many times, he had dreamed about the happiness that he’d have after accomplishing his goal. Those dreams constantly and consistently fed the ‘desire to desire’ and contributed to it. That is to say, Coyote created a huge imbalance between the ‘desire to desire’ and the  ‘desire’ itself.

Once the Road Runner is caught, Coyote feels completely lost. Because by that time, Coyote is already addicted to ‘desire to desire’. Without the Road Runner, the big bubble of ‘desire to desire’ bursts.

This bursting leads to some level of nihilism and emptiness. Rings any bell? Our everyday lives are not that much different. Unrealistic and difficult goals (desires), one way or another, lead to some level of emptiness — even after they are accomplished. Alan Watts describes this masterfully:

Back to Coyote’s story, facing with the nihilism, he has few options. One option is to replace the road runner with something or someone else. Preferably someone who can never be caught! (no bubble bursting this time). Someone that many have been looking for him. Someone who is the ultimate meaning to the believers and an escape from meaning to the nonbelievers. Yes, Coyote finds God. And, Like many believers, Coyote will be in love with believing in belief in God (desiring to desire).