Have you ever felt that striking moment of understanding,
when a lot of things fall in perspective? It often forms an unforgettable
time when you understand something you weren’t even aware you were
questioning, where your mind was furiously demanding answers. You didn’t
consciously think about it, but each and every action which assumed a certain
answer to that question was doubted by you. And maybe you let your instinct
rule that doubt till now. The question was still left wanting, it was a burning
sign which demanded attention from somewhere in the recesses of your
subconscious. It’s like being a pawn in a board game, allowing yourself to be
moved by fate’s dice and then suddenly stepping back and getting to understand
the board a little better. And realizing how this ‘dice’ is just your way of
quenching those unsolved mysteries and there’s actually a specific reason why
it showed that particular number.
It could be scary to think that how such a
moment of realization would evaporate all our assumptions and dependence on
fate and burden us with the knowledge that we could have sought out earlier had
we paid attention to those signs. But then again, complicated as millions of
human minds have made the workings of our daily lives, with each one proposing
their ‘individual’ ideas, how much could one possibly rely on their own
perspective to make sense of the maze they are lost in? …where each one is lost
in their own positions, still wondering where to go, some being falsely
confident they have reached. And some might believe that actually reaching the
open end is not the goal, the goal is to keep getting more and more involved
with its convoluted mysteries. So most of the times it’s probably wiser to
forgive yourself to not have seen that coming, and at best learn something from
it.
I wonder how one can always guarantee those few moments of
magic when all that you are looking for, trying to make sense of, trying to
attach a reason to falls into place by the power of perspective, where you can
elevate yourself from the level of the problem to the level of the cause and
eventually the level of a solution. Maybe Einstein best understood it using his
amazing corpus callosum when saying -
‘No problem can be solved from the
same level of consciousness that created it’.
So, what if, we always had a
perfect perspective for everything ? Firstly, one has to assume there’s a
perfect perspective. Let us say it is the one where you look at things in the
most reasonable, perfect way possible. And probably it’s not about being ‘positive’
or ‘negative’ but having good logic. When you see things in a way which make
the most sense. Assuming there does exist this level which makes most sense
(from which it follows there would be no dry jokes on the topic, or any easy
way to attempt humor), how would it ‘feel’ to see things that way? The most
obvious guess is that it wouldn’t feel after a while. The human brain might
desensitize itself due to this constant stimulus (Which explains a wide variety
of things – ranging from awesome to loathsome). The best guess I have is that
you would have all the answers to stuff most people grapple for – to be or not
to be, to do or not to do? Every choice of yours would now be no longer
subjected to the harshness confusion bestows upon it due to lack of
perspective.
But given the desensitization to perspective, what would be the
value remaining for perspective to hold any meaning in your life? It’s like
saying you can eat ice-cream all you like but you may not feel the smooth
creaminess of icy flavors touching your tongue and passing down your throat.
Like saying that you can listen to music all you want but it won’t invoke a
single mental or physical reaction, except that probably you would respond to
the decibel level being crossed. Yes, many of us do identify with other things
we are already desensitized to because of over stimulus.
But the worst would probably being robbed of that awe you get after gaining a new
perspective.
So maybe it is best we do realize new perspectives
occasionally. So that we are able to appreciate them for the wealth of meaning
they hold, for the ways in which they solve our knotted thoughts, and often
remove the cloud out doubt darkening our minds, or at least attempt to explain
why there is one looming there in the first place. They are rare moments of
bliss and I have learnt you cannot really chase them like any greedy pursuit. I
think they come with experience, knowledge, thinking, communication, and most
importantly an openness to understand a perspective. And maybe this ‘openness
to a different point of view’ is one of the most important qualities humans
have, almost equaling our capability of imagination. Ironically enough, you
need a hidden cloud of doubt to even realize that what you found was treasure,
an answer, a piercing ray of light.
And for all we know, perspectives - being
elusive as they are, they’ll change, break, merge, even disappear to make place
for a pattern which we never knew before, again surprising us, yet making clear
sense.
Just like the kaleidoscope, ever
changing, yet symmetrical to be reasonable enough, delighting us with its every
tilt.
