Maturity – when you can turn away from your object of desire

A few days ago. Someone offered me a parcel of land that I had always coveted and even secretly wished I owned. I’ve had this obsession to make this land mine for many years, but everytime it came my way. There was always something that would conspire to scuttle the deal. And when it was offered to me this time. One half of my mind whispered, ‘just grab it. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth like you did the last time!” The problem is simply this. The landowner who is offering this parcel of land for sale assumes that I want it and he even believes that I am willing to pay the sky and the moon just to have it. That was why during the meeting with the broker representing the landowner, when I was asked to make an offer. I told this person that I am not in the position to make an offer….. not presently. This had the desired effect of startling him and the others and served merely to confirm my suspicion that they had been informed that I am most interested. When someone asked when I would be in a position to make an offer I said, it’s best that we discuss this matter on January 25th 2024….. There’s no need to rush. I realise that some of you may be asking – why does this man seem to be complicating his already complicated life with yet another layer of complication? Why can’t he just say or do what he really desires? And if there’s such a thing as an answer maybe it’s to be found in the cautionary tale of being careful what one wishes for. Sometimes it’s best not to allow one’s desires and wants to exert such a disproportionate influence over one’s heart and mind and one way to deal with that overpowering feeling is to cultivate the wisdom of delaying gratification…. because (sometimes) what you desire with every fiber of your heart may not necessarily be good for you. As what you cannot put down gracefully and walk away from without turning back, you can never truly own. As since it exacts a such a complete hold on your desires, it actually owns you! Hence it is pointless to talk abt true power or for that matter the purity of will, when one does not even have the discipline to throw what one loves most into the abyss.