By Shikhar Gupta
A man on a mission, a man with passion, a man with determination, a man with hyper fixation.
Figuring out the way forward, no matter what, even if there is no one to guide. He proceeds irrespective of what is thrown at him, moves unfazed.
So, he does this initially, with full faith, yet he faces his first setback. There, he learns his first lesson of failure, revealing the fragility of his own perceived competency.
With renewed understanding, he proceeds forward, hardship after hardship, setback after setback, unfazed. As he has learnt his lesson. He gets himself up, figures out the solution, and keeps moving forward.
The value of small steps is only revealed after a journey. So does, realize the man.
No matter the state of motivation, he gets up and moves every day. Even if it's a small step.
Man thinks he has figured out the world. After all, he just has to push consistently, no matter the situation, to pull in the glory.
He thinks he is mature enough, experienced enough, man enough to take on any challenge.
Even without him realising, there is something brewing, something he feels that's an inseparable part of him. He identifies himself with it. So much so, nobody knows when it ends and man begins. It's as if the man and it are an ouroboros.
The best way to check something’s integrity is to test it under stress. But there are lots of different kinds of stress. But in our case, stress need not be great, it could be as small as giving advice.
As for the man who is so battle hardened, has learnt by no mistake of his own to rely on his own senses, his own wisdom, his own judgement. So much so that it could not be possible that there could exist something outside of his senses, a blind spot.
A man on a mission is a prescriptive thinker. Always looking forward. After all, only prey has their eyes on the side, predator eyes are in front, ahead of their brain. The back blind spots are guarded by his other senses. Only to alert him, to give him cues on where to look. But there is no man who could look back without turning, such a simple fact. Yet the man is still blind to this revelation. But the universe will give him a chance to get enlightened. Let's see how it goes.
A man is on a mission. Like any other mission, he is facing challenges. It is gruesome, but he has learnt his lesson. He is getting stronger moving forward, even if he is at the lowest point. Dragging himself out.
Is it a bird, is it a plane, no, it's a man. A mere mortal who is on a quest only reserved for immortals. Shattering all conventions, all norms. He is not only strong but also smart. Using his body and mind in unison towards his mission.
Yet in his current journey, he is stuck. Sometimes, thinking he might not be good enough, but at the same time, he looks into a mirror and remembers that this is not different from the past. He looks at his scars, the medal of honour. He is proud of himself.
But there is something different about this time. He is not getting through. He needs something different but doesn't know what.
This new rock, which he seems to could not get over the mountain, he always remains short of something big.
He tries all his might, he trains every day, yet he seems to be at his limits; he just remains shy of getting the rock over the top.
He motivates himself by the view that he will have at the top, sitting on the rock, but for that to happen, he needs just a little bit more strength, and it will be done.
He tries things day in and day out. Understands the problem, he applies his strength most optimally, and yet he just remains a tiny bit shy of the top.
He knows he needs just a little bit more strength, and it will be done. But he also knows that he is at the end of his limits. Yet he needs more.
Just before the pinnacle, with all his strength and might, he is pushing, and just before the pinnacle, he reaches equilibrium with the world. At that moment, he is one with the world, but he wants to go beyond. Needs just a little more strength; he will be there, and yet he is not.
And the universe took pity, but doesn't let the man know.
Another day he tries, and he reaches equilibrium with the world. Just short of a little bit more strength. There comes a butterfly. Just sat at the back of the man. Holding the man with its puny legs. The man noticed it but didn't pay any attention, but not for long.
The butterfly flapped its wings, and the equilibrium was broken. The rock starts to move. The man notices it and just when the rock was about to reach the top, the man erupted. All his muscle-mind connection was lost. The man loses his strength, and the rock rolls down the hill.
The man felt dejected. The butterfly made him feel weak. He doesn't need help; he can do it alone. How is it possible that the man needs the strength of a worthless butterfly? He who is superior to all these unworthy insects. He who faced so many trials and tribulations. He who learnt so much, filled with passion, determination, and hyper fixation, yet he is so puny and he could not gather the strength of a butterfly to fulfil his objective.
Unacceptable. He is not weak, he is not a leech (nasty blood suckers) dependent on others, he is a worthy individual who eats what he has earned. He never begs. He helps everyone, he guides everyone, but never ever needs one.
He is enough by himself, and it's unacceptable that he is weak. He who is a good person. The most difficult thing is to be a good person. The world is always after you, trying to take advantage of you. But you are strong, you follow through even through the harshest situation, never compromising your ideals because you have the strength to endure.
And now an insignificant butterfly is telling me I am not good enough. But at this point, man doesn't realise that he is just full of himself.
From here, the story could go two ways. One, being full of himself, he will be doomed to never reach the top. But he will remain true to himself. True to his values. True to his principle. True to his mission and to achieve a state of happiness, where even if he is a failure, he at least lives life by his own rules. Master of his fabricated universe. Sentenced himself for eternity, rather than acknowledging that sometimes you are not good enough.
But you are good enough in your head, the blind spot that you can't see. The psych that has morphed inside him is just inaccessible to him to reflect upon. To protect the psych, he rejects everything. He denounces everything other than himself, for something that is inseparable from him, being himself.
The second route is acknowledgement of him being not good enough, not because he didn't put effort, but because he needs to remember, he is a mere mortal. Just because he is on an immortal journey does not mean he is one. He is still bound by the laws of the world. That has put limitation on him. There are limitations on everything. Even the butterfly is aware of its puniness. But wanted to be part of something big, even if it is for a small time, even with its all but small offering.
A man on a mission, a man with passion, a man with determination, a man with hyper fixation. Lacked compassion, for others and for himself.
This world is weird; it has put so many limitations around everything. And yet when these things come together, they break free from each other's limitations by working together.
A man has now learnt his lesson. The sum of parts becomes more than their parts apart. With profound wisdom butterfly helped him again, and he is enjoying the top on top of the rock with the butterfly.
On top of the rock, on top of the top. He realised the journey forward will need help and will need friends. But old psych is like quick sand, the only way out is slowly. A quick struggle will devour you, but more importantly, you will definitely need help.
It will take some time to internalize. Some more trial and tribulation to hone his newfound knowledge. It will be difficult, but with some effort, which this man is no stranger to, he will make this descriptive wisdom into prescriptive wisdom.
Well, there is an old saying: practice makes the man perfect.