51
The ambition
of every boy
is to be an engine-driver.
Some
attain
it,
and remain
there all their lives.
But in the majority
of cases
the Understanding grows faster than the
Will, and
long
before the boy
is
in
a
position
to attain
his wish
he
has
already
forgotten
it.
In other cases the Understanding never grows beyond
a
certain point,
and the Will
persists without
intelligence.
The
business
man
(for
example)
has wished
for
ease
and comfort,
and to this
end
goes daily
to
his
office
and
slaves under
a
more
cruel
taskmaster
than the meanest of the workmen
in his pay;
he
decides
to
retire, and finds
that
life
is
empty.
The end has been swallowed
up in
the means.
Only those are happy who have desired the unattainable.
All possessions,
the material
and the spiritual
alike,
are but dust.
Love,
sorrow,
and
compassion
are three
sisters
who,
if
they seem
freed
from
this
curse,
are
only
so
because
of their
relation
to The
Unsatisfied.
Beauty
is
itself
so unattainable
that
it
escapes altogether;
and the true
artist,
like
the true mystic,
can
never
rest.
To
him
the
Magician
is
but
a
servant.
His
wand
is
of
infinite
length;
it
is
the
creative
Mahalingam.
The difficulty
with
such an one
is
naturally
that his wand being very