The mind is fundamentally the beginning of madness. And if you're too into it, it will drive you crazy.
In my village I lived opposite a jeweler's house. I sat in front of his house and learned that he had a curious habit: he would lock his shop and then pull the door two or three times to see if it was really locked. One day I was returning from the river, and he, having just closed his shop, was going home. I said:
- But you didn’t check!
- What? he asked.
-You didn't check the lock!
He checked it - I saw him pull it three times, but now I have created the situation, and the mind is always ready... And he told me:
- Maybe I forgot. I have to go back.
He returned and began checking the lock again. It became my amusement - every time he left... He bought vegetables at the market, and I came up to him and said:
- What are you doing here? You didn't check the lock!
He threw his vegetables and said:
- I'll be right back; I just have to go and check the lock.
One day, even at the station... he was buying a ticket to go somewhere, and I came up to him and said:
- What are you doing? Lock!
“Oh my God, didn’t I check him?” - he said.
- No! - I said.
- Now it’s impossible to go...
He returned the ticket, came home and checked the lock. But then it was too late to return to the station - the train had already left. And he believed me because I always sat in front of the house.
Gradually everyone knew this, and wherever he went, people said:
-Where are you going? Have you checked the lock?
In the end, he got angry with me.
“It’s probably you who are spreading this, because wherever I go, everyone tells me about this castle.”
“Don’t listen to them,” I said. - Let them tell themselves whatever they want.
- What do you mean don’t listen! If they're right, I'm lost forever. I can't take that risk. Therefore, knowing full well that this man might be lying, I still came to check the castle. Somewhere inside I know that I checked it, but who knows for sure?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru