This question presents two issues that must be decoupled and the hidden (second) question must be addressed first.
"However , I really like this material object and I feel I might want it ( definitely don't need it for my survival or anything like that) . The thought of giving this object does not make me happy."
While veiled in introspection, the main (generosity) question is consumed in a cloud of questionable morality and, more importantly, indicates diminished sammā-ditthi (right view). More simply, this is a question about generosity that conceals a more desperate question about clinging and attachment.
To the question surrounding the object:
The Noble Eightfold Path begins with samma ditthi (right view). In the Noble Eightfold Path, samma ditthi (right view) is defined as knowledge of the Four Noble Truths. The complete definition is the knowledge of suffering (dukkhe nanam), the cause of suffering (dukkha samudaye nanam), the cessation of suffering (dukkha nirodhe nanam) and knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of suffering (dukkha nirodha gamini patipadaya nanam).
Your hidden question concerns craving to sensual pleasure(s) and is the tip of the (dukkha) spear. Clinging and craving are introduced to us in the Nidanasamyutta:
"And what is clinging/sustenance? These four are clingings: sensuality
clinging, view clinging, precept & practice clinging, and doctrine of
self clinging. This is called clinging.
"And what is craving? These six are classes of craving: craving for
forms, craving for sounds, craving for smells, craving for tastes,
craving for tactile sensations, craving for ideas. This is called
craving.
(Ref: "Nidanasamyutta" ["Connected Discourses on Causation", SN 12] - see Bodhi, 2000b, p. 535 or online at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.002.than.html)
The metaphorical spear itself is dhukka. Samma ditthi (right view) is at the very core of the Buddha's philosophy. Your hidden question obfuscates understanding of causation.
Views are not without complexity. In "The Philosophy of Desire in the Buddhist Pali Canon", David Webster suggests,
"What is so wrong with the holding of opinions? It may well relate to
the consequences of their possession, in the context of the manner in
which they are held." "For example, in the Mahaparinibbana sutta, the
Buddha tells the monks of views leading toward nibbana, that they
should be: yayam ditthi ariya niyyanika - 'continuing in the noble
view that leads to liberation'"
There is a distinction throughout Canonical texts (e.g. at M.III.73) between the status (rightness or wrongness) of views. The explorer is left to determine from context whether to uplift or condemn a view. However, it seems clear; if a view is connected with one of the four manifestations of Upadana (clinging or grasping), then such a view is worthy of condemnation.
Therefore, the thrust of this answer rests in the tainted shadow cast upon alms or generosity. Though, not entirely without potential for merit (see below), I believe greater iterative, honesty is suggested.
In retaining possession of a sense object, are you liberated? In relinquishing possession of a sense object are you liberated? Is it the sense object itself that is the source of the suffering; or is the suffering within you?
It is important to confront and/or abandon the clinging to the sense object. The path of liberation is illuminated in the Culasihanada Sutta:
"Now these four kinds of clinging have what as their source, what as
their origin, from what are they born and produced? These four kinds
of clinging have craving as their source, craving as their origin,
they are born and produced from craving.[a] Craving has what as its
source...? Craving has feeling as its source... Feeling has what as
its source...? Feeling has contact as its source... Contact has what
as its source...? Contact has the sixfold base as its source... The
sixfold base has what as its source...? The sixfold base has
mentality-materiality as its source... Mentality-materiality has what
as its source...? Mentality-materiality has consciousness as its
source... Consciousness has what as its source...? Consciousness has
formations as its source... Formations have what as their source...?
Formations have ignorance as their source, ignorance as their origin;
they are born and produced from ignorance.
"Bhikkhus, when ignorance is abandoned and true knowledge has arisen
in a bhikkhu, then with the fading away of ignorance and the arising
of true knowledge he no longer clings to sensual pleasures, no longer
clings to views, no longer clings to rules and observances, no longer
clings to a doctrine of self.[b] When he does not cling, he is not
agitated. When he is not agitated, he personally attains Nibbana."
(Ref: "Culasihanada Sutta" ["Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar", MN 11] - see Nanamoli & Bodhi, 2001, p. 161 or online at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.011.ntbb.html)
To the question of generosity:
According to Mahasi Sayadaw, the Bhara Sutta (The Burden of the Five Aggregates), of alms and generosity,
"There are four kinds of such purity, as follows: (a) When a person
practicing morality gives alms to one not practicing it, the giver
earns merit. The gift is pure. (b) When a person not practicing
morality gives alms to one practices it, the gift remains pure from
the point of view of the recipient. The giver, therefore, earns merit
all the same; and the merit is all the more great. (c) When both the
giver and the recipient of the gift are immoral, the gift is impure;
and the act of giving is to no avail. Even when the giver shares his
merits to the petas [c], the latter cannot receive them and will
not be released from the world of petas. (d) When both the giver and
the recipient of gifts are pure in morality, the gifts will also be
pure, and merits accruing from such giving will earn the highest
merit."
Two closing thoughts:
- Generosity with an expectation/anticipation of merit is a
view worthy of challenge.
- Generosity bereft of willingness is an empty act for the giver and a potential source of suffering for the receiver.
Footnotes:
a This passage is explained in order to show how clinging is to be abandoned. Clinging is traced back, via the chain of dependent arising, to its root-cause in ignorance, and then the destruction of ignorance is shown to be the means to eradicate clinging.
b The Pali idiom, n'eva kamupadanam upadiyati, would have to be rendered literally as "he does not cling to the clinging to sense pleasures," which may obscure the sense more than it illuminates it. The word upadana in Pali is the object of its own verb form, while "clinging" in English is not. The easiest solution is to translate directly in accordance with the sense rather than to try to reproduce the idiom in translation.
c peta [Skt. preta]:
A "hungry shade" or "hungry ghost" — one of a class of beings in the lower realms, sometimes capable of appearing to human beings. The petas are often depicted in Buddhist art as starving beings with pinhole-sized mouths through which they can never pass enough food to ease their hunger.
