From A Nobody!

How it shudders a regular person's mind to even imagine that they could end up as a Nobody in this life! Since our early days of growing up, we have been asked this question; 'who/what do you want to be when you grow up?' We have been made to think about it deeply and consistently. This deep conditioning that we have to be 'somebody' has crafted most of our lives. Being a 'Nobody' is just not acceptable!

Did we ever pause somewhere in the middle of our lives and question, why is it that I have to be 'somebody?'

If not, can we ask ourselves this question today, why did I spend my life being that 'somebody?' Or am I even there? Have I become that person or that idea?

If I am not there, then what is next for me? If I am already there, then what is next for me?

No, I am not talking about the necessity of earning a living. I am talking about investigating how this current reality of ours came to be.

Now, imagine a wild scenario where there was no conditioning through the environment while growing up that we have to be 'somebody' when we grow up. We were given the necessary education to adapt to the environment we live in, we were aided on how to discover the values which lie within us and eventually exposed to the science of evolution and involution of the universe.

I call it a 'wild' scenario as in imagining it itself we would have to shed so many thoughts and ideas we have about ourselves and the world around us!

Can we visualize, in this new scenario, what is it we would be chasing in our lives? What are the essential questions we would be asking ourselves? What credentials would we be seeking now? What will be the role of a goal in our lives? What would be the significance of people around us? What would be the dictating factors of sorrow and happiness? What would be the status of our self-respect and respect for others?

Would we rather not be answering the question; Why am I existing? than; Have I become that 'somebody' I set out to be?

Which one of the above do you think is a more fulfilling question? Which question gives more strength? Which is a more forward-looking question?

There are people in our history who asked themselves these new questions and it is them whom we admire, revere and look up to when we seek to get out of our troubles. Mother Teresa, Swami Vivekananda, Nelson Mandela, Subhash Chandra Bose and many more... who started without caring about being a Nobody, and yet their deeds led them to a different destiny. Only if we look closer there could be such Nobodies brewing in our own environment too.

Concluding thus; For most of us the existing scenario might not change to this 'wild one.' But now and then even contemplating on it, gives us a perspective on the freedom of choice we still hold to make alternate decisions for ourselves, a perspective on what could happen if we ask ourselves different questions and a perspective that maybe there is nothing wrong in being a Nobody!