Answer:

Wishful thinking is the act of forming beliefs based on what is pleasing to the person instead of on evidence or reality. I might wish to believe there is no school tomorrow, but that doesn't change the facts. The problem with wishful thinking is that the person and his feelings become the basis of judgment.

For example, when Isaiah called on Israel to change, they refused. "For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, 'You must not see visions;' and to the prophets, "You must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel'" (Isaiah 30:9-11). Truth didn't matter. They only wanted to hear things that made them feel good. When Jeremiah was telling everyone that God had determined to wipe out Jerusalem, most people didn't want to hear his message. They preferred false teachers who told them everything was fine. "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?" (Jeremiah 5:31).

Such a problem continues to this day. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths" (II Timothy 4:3-4).

What I wish is irrelevant. I must school myself to seek the truth, even when it may be painful.