The Laws Governing Wishes

The Second Law of Wishes: The Harmony between Human Beings and Their Wishes

Have you ever wished for something that you do not like?

Have you ever wished to have something that you deeply hate or find terrifying or distressing?

If your answer is, by any chance, yes, was your wish or feeling of disgust and fear genuine?

The answer to this question is so obvious that asking it seems ridiculous!

We do not want something that we do not like or is unpleasant, terrifying, or not useful. Even if it is offered to us for free, we will refuse it. In other words, we wish for things that we like, need, find useful, or at least enjoy to watch and use.

This seemingly simple issue presents the second law of wishes or principle of desiring. If you remember, in the previous article, we explained the first law of wishes and concluded that it is impossible for us to want something that does not exist at all. Now, we are going to introduce the second law of wishes:

• It is impossible for us to want something that we do not have compatibility with.

But what does this law exactly mean, and why is it important to know it?

The Harmony between the Person Who Desires and the Desired Thing

Have you ever made a wish to eat plastic or paper?

You might find this question weird or somehow insulting; how could a healthy human being have an appetite for eating such things? The human body is not compatible with eating them; when hungry, it seeks something that is compatible with and suitable for it.

There are electromagnetic waves of different frequencies in our surrounding environment, ranging from high-frequency ionizing radiation to very low-frequency radio waves. However, the existence of billions of different frequencies in the air cannot help our eyes to see things, as our eyes seek the presence of wavelengths or frequencies within the visible light spectrum. The same rule applies to sounds that our ears can hear. Although various sounds are produced in the environment, our ears can only detect sounds in a frequency range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. We cannot hear the sound of some insects or that of an earthquake because these sounds are not compatible or harmonious with our hearing range.

In all these examples, the prerequisite for desiring something is harmony and compatibility. In other words, without harmony or compatibility, there would be no wish. There is always harmony between the person who desires and the thing he desires, or the lover and the beloved.

Therefore, according to the second law of wishes, wherever there is a desire or wish, there is compatibility. For example, when we feel thirsty, our desire for water shows that thirst can only be quenched by drinking water. In fact, there is no part of us that desires something incompatible or mismatched. For example, our nose has nothing to do with the presence of light or sound frequency; it only desires smell. Or a baby’s skin desires the gentle touch of the mother; hearing a sound or smelling a scent does not fulfill his desire. So when you desire or want something as your goal or wish, you must have compatibility and harmony with that desire. Therefore, the second law of wishes can be stated as follows:

“Desiring something is secondary to having compatibility with the desired object.”

Harmony in a State of Health

However, do we have harmony with everything we desire and are drawn to?

You may have seen children who show interest in eating clay, and you probably know that this inclination is a sign of severe iron deficiency in their bodies.[1] But eating clay cannot make up this deficiency. In other words, due to this deficiency, the body of these children has found harmony and compatibility with something outside its normal state. So it is better to say:

• Human beings have harmony with the things that they desire in a state of balance and health.

Sometimes, an illness or our wrong choices, behaviors, habits, and lifestyle can negatively affect our taste. As a result, we may desire things that are harmful to us or feel reluctant towards things that are beneficial. Take, for instance, a child who easily eats unhealthy snacks but refuses to eat fruit, or someone who spends hours scrolling through social media but does not take even a few moments for self-reflection and solitude. In such situations, our taste is distorted, and it is not in a healthy state; anyone with common sense would recognize that an ill taste is not a good criterion for wanting or not wanting something.

Incompatibility Is Suffering

Eating rotten or spoiled food is one of the worst experiences for all of us. Our digestive system is not compatible with contamination and reacts to it. This reaction can range from a mild stomach upset to severe and distressing symptoms. In other words, absence of harmony brings about incompatibility. When there is no harmony or compatibility between our existence and something else, we will suffer. The severity of this suffering depends on the extent and importance of the incompatibility.

This rule applies to all dimensions of our existence. In addition to our body, our spirit needs special care and should use things that are compatible with its structure. If it deviates from its natural path, it seeks things that are not suitable for it. It means it desires something that is incompatible with it, and naturally, the consequence of this lack of compatibility and harmony is nothing but suffering.

In this article, we explained the second law of wishes is ‘the compatibility between the person who desires and the thing he desires.’ We gave a few examples of this compatibility and realized that the lack of compatibility between us and our desires will result in discomfort and suffering. In the end, we mentioned that human beings are compatible with their desires only when they are in a state of health and balance.

In the next article, we will discuss the human capacity to achieve his desires and review the third universal law of wishes.

[1]. https://daily.jstor.org/what-is-geophagy-scientist-theories/