‘Why’ with a big W!

Any person with a strong desire to do something different from the normal norms must have faced this question, ‘Why’ with a big W.

Why do you want to do this, why change the normal path, why leave the comfort zone, why is it required to be done. But then the protean character normally turns out to be the path breaker. If you ask a scientist why he spends his life searching for the new molecule which is unknown, his balmy but mysterious response may not be appealing to others. On the contrary, according to him, the generic perception of people about the subject and about people like him is very inane and confined to the extent that it is crippled; crippled to the extent that people do not see the possibilities; possibilities which could be attained on the contrary.

A human being has the supreme ability to reason and this ability to ask ‘How’ has been consequential for the brilliant work of genius like Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton and others. When Pythagoras must have proposed that the earth was round, and not flat as was believed then, people might have questioned him why he had to challenge whatever was portrayed and accepted by the world. I do not intend to say that asking the question ‘Why’ is a sin. All the words which are used by an inquisitive mind like ‘when, where, how, why, which, what’ are all supreme and indispensable. However if these questions are asked to disregard the worth and virtue of the unknown or unfathomable, it will only lead towards a loss of the possibility of a greater good.

Albert Einstein quotes that “Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.”

We can understand from this that it is not just about your intelligence but to think beyond the obvious which leads to something extraordinary. Even the simplest of path breaking moments in the day to day activity can cumulatively lead to colossal changes over a period of time. But this requires the willingness to have a broader vision. The thought process of an individual determines his actions and his fate, is something which has been widely said and known. But it is a different object all together to understand and truly live any of the great quotes. While we idolize all the geniuses, we need to also understand their way of thinking.

Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by someone who wishes to remain anonymous.