Vol. 14, The Smiling Forehead
The Difference between Will, Wish and Desire
Cherishing the wish
Then one may ask whether it is good to think about the wish one has. One can never think too many times of the wish one has. Dream about it, think about it and imagine it, keep it in mind, retain it in mind and do everything possible towards its fulfillment, but with poise, with tranquillity, with patience, with confidence, with ease, and not by thinking hard about it.
The one who thinks hard about his wish destroys it, for it is just like overheating, or giving too much water to a plant: the very thing that should help it, destroys it. If a person worries about his wish he certainly either has no patience, or he has some fear or some doubt; all these things destroy the wish.
The wish must be cherished easily, with comfort, with hope, with confidence and with patience. Doubt is like rust, it eats into it; fear is still worse, it destroys it.
When a person has no discrimination and is not sure whether it is a right wish or a wrong one, whether it should come true or not, one day he says, "I should so much like it to come true"; another day he says, "I do not care if it comes true." After a week he says anew, "I so much wish it to come true," and after a month, "Oh, I do not care now." It is just like making a fire and then putting it out, then making the fire again and again putting it out. Every time he extinguishes the fire it is gone, he will have to make it anew. And so, if a person has formed a wish and cherished it for ten years, each time it is broken he has to make it anew.
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