It has happened to me numerous times. An idea strikes like a flash and the moment feels exalted in its brightness, in its newness, in its possibilities, in its prospects, and in its freshness. But in the excitement I miss out on keeping a written account or note of the idea, and it happens not unconsciously.
I think I must write it down immediately. Yet again I feel that this idea is going to stay, that nothing will happen to this picture framed and captured and now built in my mind. With this sense and consciousness I decide not to write it down right then; rather to enjoy and experience the enchantment, the exaltation.
So not to note it down is a conscious decision. And later I regret cent per cent for such missed occasions, for not having penned those down. Thus they never remain. Neither do they come back. And if at all they do come back, my memory does not recognize them.
If you decide to write, write and just write. Decide first on what to write and then learn and enhance your knowledge and skills to write what you decide to write. In the process, you will automatically read, and have to read what is needed to help you learn what and how you want to write. And leave all other ideas and things aside. That alone will help, and nothing else will.
Reading has no end. The dearth of reading material available through the ages, documents manuscripts, and literature is as huge as the extent of human civilization.
Deciding which stream of knowledge one focuses on to nurture and garner is the only way to have discipline in learning. A normal human being cannot think of being all-knowing. The secret to acquiring and achieving is to take up an idea, to think of it, to dream of it, to live it, and to leave all other ideas aside. That’s the only way to succeed.
Reading everything and anything will take one nowhere, not in one life, not in many lives if one does even believe in rebirth.
So stop wandering aimlessly through books and manuscripts. Settle down with one idea and stick to it, strive through it. You cannot acquire all the knowledge. Human beings know not everything despite ages of meditation, learning, understanding, trying to understand how to think, thinking of thought, and learning facets of knowledge.
Hence, keep adding your minuscule bit to the grand cannons of understanding and realization, just the way a squirrel contributes to the making of the enormous bridge across the seas, with all your faith, with all your might, and with all your sincerity. There lies your salvation.
