From SGI USA, I'm Cassidy Bradford, and this is bootability.

The weekly series where I talk with Buddhists from all walks of life about the power we each have to change our lives and the world around us.

Picture this. You've written down your goal to get a new job by July 25th. You've been

chanting about it, but today, it's now August 1st. And you still don't have an offer letter

in hand. What gives? Why aren't your goals happening on your timeline?

It's a great question. Many of us set goals and expect to see them manifest within a certain

amount of time. And of course, sometimes we absolutely achieve our goals in super quick record time.

So why is it that some things we chant for happen faster than others?

There's an awesome analogy given by the Buddhist philosopher Dysakwa Akita regarding this question.

He says, in Nietzschean Buddhism, it is said that no prayer goes unanswered. But this is very different

from having every wish instantly gratified as if by magic.

If you chant to win the lottery tomorrow or score 100% on a test tomorrow without having studied, the odds are small that it will happen.

Nonetheless, viewed from a deeper, longer-term perspective, all your prayers serve to propel

you in the direction of happiness.

Sometimes our immediate prayers are realized, and sometimes they aren't.

When we look back later, however, we can say with absolute conviction that everything

turned out for the best. Buddhism accords with reason. Our faith is

manifested in our daily lives and our actual circumstances. Our prayers cannot be answered if we fail

to make efforts to realize them. Furthermore, it takes a great deal of time and effort to overcome

sufferings of a

karmic nature, whose roots lie deep in the causes we made in the past.

There is a big difference, for example, in the time it takes for a scratch to heal,

...