Consider a Dot to be the smallest microorganism, then in that case, each one of us is just a dot in the universe.
Each Dot has a specific DNA furnishing its unique character. It’s in constant motion and for me every dot is pregnant with possibilities of infinite potential.
Here, I want to take the example of the Banyan tree. When you think of the majestic Banyan Tree, it’s important that you think of how it evolved into the big majestic tree as well as the secret of its grandeur.
The banyan is essentially a fig. And it’s pollinated by fig wasps. These wasps live inside the small tiny fruit of the banyan tree and pollinate the Banyan. That’s how evolution has worked. The Banyan has found its wasp and the wasp has found its Banyan. So, whether it’s the tiny wasp or the majestic Banyan – their interdependencies are as critical as each other’s life and death.
Is the fig wasp a part of the banyan tree or is the Banyan tree part of the fig wasp? The dot is the fig wasp or is it the Banyan Tree ?
This was reinforced thousands years ago:
‘Ahm Atma Brahma’ and ‘Prajananam Brahma’ – Consciousness is the ultimate. The self which is the soul is the ultimate.
Thus, the big question is – Am I a part of universal consciousness or the universal consciousness is me?
Can you now begin to see the unknown and infinite possibilities within a dot?
I have had the fortune to meet and interact with a whole lot of successful people, both young and old. Amongst this successful lot, a large majority of them are folks who have planned every aspect of their life. They set goals and tasks – make detailed lists and work towards it meticulously every day of their life. Passionate, hard-working, focused. I have spoken to them about what drives them. And more often than not, most of them have told me about changing the world, changing their destinies and those of the people who work for them, about working for a company that gives them the freedom to think and do their best. It’s a narrative that we hear often.
I have wondered if these narratives are what we tell ourselves or what the world tells us. In today’s hyper-connected, hyper-contextual world, the fact is that we can’t really make out a difference between the narratives we are fed and narratives we tell ourselves. So, here’s the thing. I believe that a large majority of us function on the stories we tell ourselves. All of us are familiar with these inspirational stories. They pop multiple times within one day on our social media feeds. These stories are those of talented people who have connected the dots, envisioned the larger picture and persevered so hard. People who the world is sitting up and taking notice of.
As human-beings we love to conform, maybe because we are fearful of the unknown. We try to connect the dots, imagine patterns, only to be told to be like someone else at the end of the day. And by doing that we limit the possibilities. Often you are told, “be like your father or grow up and be like your uncle – they achieved so much in his life or be like Nehru, be like Gandhi, be like Amitabh”. Our education system also begins with conformation and teaches one to look for acceptable patterns and conform to them, thereby limiting the approach and possibilities. It’s no wonder that we love to ape. After all we evolved from them. Have you ever seen a Tiger want to be like any other Tiger? In fact, a Tiger fights and protects his territory – they resist anyone’s intrusion into their space. An eagle wants to be an eagle.
Thus, the biggest and the prime task is to really ‘Look At’ and not ‘Look Up’ or ‘Look Down’ without any judgment or preconceived notions. It is your own never-drying water vein – Talent, Focus and Endurance that will bring the dots to join in effortlessly and create your own pattern. Allow nature to impregnate you with infinite possibilities which are unique to you. No need to conform to other patterns and more importantly, remind yourself to only ‘look at’ others and not ‘look up’ or ‘look down’.
In my life, occasionally, I have met happy people. So, I did not say successful people but simply, happy people. When I say happy, I do not mean ‘happy on a Friday evening’ or ‘happy after a couple of drinks down’, but folks who have consistently remained happy. And yes, some of them are well known, they run successful companies or work for them, some do their own thing – and they come from various walks of life.
When I talked to them to understand how they function, the one common thread that I could pick up was that almost all of them were ‘carefree’. Not ‘careful’ but ‘carefree’. They were flowing. They were moving. Yes, they navigated this flow based on their intuition. Based on what they felt was their strength.
It’s important to be able to read the flow. Understand the truth that, everything changes. What matters is how you react to the change? Every day will throw something new at you. Look, the world couldn’t care less. And you will understand the full import of what I mean when you think about this a little deeper. We end up constantly judging ourselves in the eyes of people who matter or may not even matter to us. There are entire industries and businesses that function on preserving and building this image. People spend a lifetime carefully building these images. It’s like an unending stream of selfies that one keeps taking and sharing. Those carefully crafted posts on Facebook. Those recommendations that we gloat on. And then one day everything changes. And these images come crashing down. The icons one has aligned one’s life to develop feet of clay.
So, stay ‘carefree’. Let’s look ‘at’ people for who they are. There’s no point in looking ‘up to’ people. Understand the dot you are standing on. Develop a sense of self. Be mad. Madness is equated to being ‘carefree’. In fact the word for ‘madness’ in Sanskrit is ‘unmatta’. But the meaning is remarkably different. ‘Unmatta’ is a state of excitement and action. So how excited are you today? That’s what really matters. And what’s important is not the answers you get, but the questions you ask. That’s the beginning of real learning.
I hope that the little seed of madness has begun to sprout in your minds. Even if it hasn’t don’t bother. Stay mad, stay carefree. And don’t bother about connecting any dots. Focus on the dot you are. That’s all that really matters. Rest all will fall in place to conform to You – The Dot.