Don’t look along an axis
Imagine a three-dimensional space, keeping rectangular coordinates in mind. Now look along the x-axis, perpendicularly on the y-z plane. The x-axis points towards your eyes, and its hind points away. Take any point (no thickness; should only be a point source) on the x-axis. Move it along the x-axis, keeping your eyes fixed. Do you observe any noticeable change? I presume not. No matter how high or low the x-coordinate is, your eyes do not see a difference. Because all your focus is on the y-z plane. Any slightest movement there would instantly catch your attention, no matter how minute it might be. Now you might repeat the same experiment with the y- and the z-axes, if you like. Same results, eh? What does this seemingly stupid spree of exercises hint at?
What if I tell you this experiment has a lot to do with life? Somewhere it resonates with the prevalent thoughts of most humans, and you’ll soon see how. Imagine someone being good at a particular activity. Keep the proficiency in that activity on the x-axis and mark the point representing the person’s achievements on the axis accordingly. Now look along the x-axis like you did earlier. Do you see anything? No. No matter how good and skilled the person is, you turn a blind eye towards them. Because you are looking straight at the y-z plane, which encompasses everything except the skill you should be looking for. (Remember how the y-z plane and the projections on it contain every information apart from the details about the x-coordinates, i.e., the ‘x-ness’ of data is missing!) And that’s why you can’t see the person progress. You are so focused on other fields that you are oblivious to the impressiveness of the person’s chosen skill. Unfortunately, that’s how most of the world works.
The example shown above, is of 3-dimensional space. Let’s generalize it to n dimensions, at least in the spiritual realm, since we cannot physically visualize higher dimensional space. Every human is a dimension, every dimension is the embodiment of some skill. A very fitting quote pertaining to this would be, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” (Credits: Albert Schweitzer, a French writer. No, Albert Einstein didn’t say this, as you might have thought.) Everyone is talented, in some way or the other, with certainty. You just have to look along the right direction, which, as you now know, is certainly not along the axis. You’d not recognize the efforts or skill of a person’s craft till you widen your perspective and look from a broader field of view. Every person is worthwhile, just don’t look along their axis!
