It had suddenly occurred to me that it might be a good idea for me to write a book on the subject of "right thought." I was thinking that there must be some rules or methods which a person could follow in order to improve the quality of thought. If I could discover those rules or principles, then I could improve my own thoughts. This seemed to me like a most prudent path to take, for I conceived of my thoughts as being the basis for whatever else transpired in my life.

As I thought about the subject, I realized that I had previously encountered the idea of "right thought" in Buddhist doctrine. I recalled that there were eight "rights" altogether, such as "right action" and "right speech" – I could not remember what the others were, but at least I knew that my idea was not completely crazy, and that other people had also considered the subject. If I were to write a book, however, the book would not be in the Buddhist tradition, even though I might be able to delve more into Buddhist philosophy and obtain some ideas therefrom.

Mostly I would be writing the book for myself. If I could learn the principles for "right thought," perhaps I could establish some control over my own thoughts, which all too often seemed worthless and out of control. Surely I could make some improvements if I would just think more about the subject of "right thought."