Recently during one of my travels, I got to
pondering about one thing, Why not? Yes, why not. We all know that almost
everything the world has right now owes it to the one ultimate supreme word
“Why?” . After all, its the source of all curiosity. We all seem to agree on
its cumulative importance. And it is, after all that's the word that gave us
many important inventions and discoveries. But I am not gonna talk about the
importance of the word “Why”. Its well-known and very well-documented. Today, I
am going to talk about its lesser known brother namely, “Why not?” It is the
younger ,tamer sibling of the former and its lesser known, too. But it does go
about its own business quietly and silently, never ever taking much credit for
its successes but it does publicly owns up its failures and sometimes it's
siblings's too. Scientist's and philosophers alike have always asked this
question to almost about everything they see or feel or sense. Why always seems
to give some relevant answers. Newton discovered gravity because of it, its the same with Einstein, I
guess Sigmund Freud and countless others like him. I guess its because of the
curiosity and passion it arouses in people. But now in a world of infinite
improbabilities, Why not is proving to be a better alternative than why. I mean
it super-cedes why now-a-days. Just think about it, if there were no why not's,
would there be any modern inventions beyond the why's ? I mean only why does
seem to give the answers but the real point of inventions lie with the why not's.
Take a moment and think about it. Just for an example, take the wheel. “Why”
gave the answer to how it actually works, but it takes an equally brilliant
mind to come with an equally brilliant question why not? Why not use it for
something? Why not put one more and couple it with a horse to make a cart? Why
not put two and two together coupled with an engine and build a stable machine
with a transport?
Most of
the whys in this world have already been answered, Just look at the list of
books from the first one to the current one in the publishing house. Almost all
books deal with why. To quote Will Smith, “There have millions and millions and
gazillions of people that have lived before all of us. There's no new problem
that you could have that someone already hasn't solved before, and wrote about it
in a book”. So why bother with your stupid why's? Knowledge is the key and
books are the source, so get on with it.
One
thing I appreciate about the western world is that they don't bother much about
dealing with past knowledge, they research further keeping in mind that
they have a whole wide world of past knowledge, for their reference.They just don't waste time in re -learning everything. Just grab a hold of some basic
concepts and surge forward knowing that you have all the data you need at your
disposal. Whereas, we here are committed to re-learning every basic fact and
memorizing them, instead of just looking them up whenever you need and move
forward, You really learn while doing and not reading. So much for science..:p.
So now there are very few why's that need to
answered and they are real biggies too,but we should leave them to the experts.
The real point forward from here on is asking why not? Why not like this? Why
not like that? Its a revolutionary new way to look at the world. Some of the
biggest discoveries were also discovered through the same questions. Ex: the structure of benzene.
:P
Now
relating to life, no doubt that why does clear some doubts and perceptions but
it also has a disadvantage. Almost naturally why is followed by Why me and
sometimes, why always me?
And
then comes the usual trap of this always happens to me, What wrong did I do to
deserve this, Many people commit worse actions and are still happier than
me,more successful than me, my motives were always good etc etc just to name a
few.
I think
the solution to this is shifting from thinking hard “why not?” instead of why
and then forcefully following it by “why not me?” I know its difficult to
answer but it just may be the answer to all of your miseries and dissatisfaction
Just at that instant, life will start to become clearer and you will be more
satisfied with your current situation and you can strive to be better if you
have a clear view of where you stand with respect to your goals. A quote from
Hugh Prather,” There's no proof that at your current stage if your past choices would have made better results, there's a chance that it would have been worse
or still it may have bought you exactly to the stage as you are now.". There's no
need for lamenting over the fact that your choices could have been better, you
could have worked harder. There's an almost equal chance that everything could
fail given no fault of your own. So just own up your current situation and work
up to what you want.
Lets start a why not revolution in almost all phases of your
life then and let your imaginations soar.. :)
