Cages with Open Doors
Vitally Important, Rarely Taught Series
The training of a young elephant calf begins early under its handler. In order to prevent it from running away, its back leg is tethered by a rope which is tied to a stake in the ground. The young calf struggles tirelessly to break free. However, upon failing to do so, it gradually resigns itself to its fate. As the calf grows into an adult, it acquires enough strength to break the rope. Yet, it remains trapped, not by the rope, but by its own belief that escape is impossible, and thus, it never attempts to break free again.
Aren’t we also tethered to some beliefs that limit us?
And isn’t it true that we, and not others, created boundaries around ourselves?
George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars Series, has the following to say:
We are living in cages with the door wide open - George Lucas
It’s quite possible that the comfort of the cage is preventing us from taking on new adventures. Fortunately, the door is always open and whenever we are ready, we can spread our wing and fly away. There are only two reasons why we may not be able to do it in spite of feeling stuck.
We are afraid and we prefer not to think about the status quo.
We are over-thinking.
In the military, young officers often accomplish impossible missions. That’s because no one told them that it couldn’t be done.
As we grow older, we start over-analyzing and our default choice is the safer option. The center of the herd may in fact be safer but the view is terrible.
I am not recommending foolhardiness and being reckless. We must carefully consider the potential consequences of our actions. But from time to time we must also challenge the status quo. Because, our willingness to question, plants the seed for our future growth.
The Truth About Freedom
We might be undervaluing our most potent tool - ‘Freedom’, which is intrinsic to our nature. We possess a natural inclination towards autonomy and self-determination. Viktor Frankl says, that "the freedom to choose our attitude” is something that no one can take away from us.
We have more freedom than ever to choose our work, use our time, use technology and be creative to rise to our full potential. Yet we seem to be losing instead of gaining from our freedom.
Perhaps we are not truly free. May be we are oblivious to the fact that we are shackled.
Adam Grant in his book, “Think Again”, says,
We refresh our wardrobes when they go out of style and renovate our kitchens when they’re no longer in vogue. When it comes to our knowledge and opinions, though, we tend to stick to our guns. Psychologists call this seizing and freezing. We favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt, and we let our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. We laugh at people who still use Windows 95, yet we still cling to opinions that we formed in 1995. We listen to views that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard.
Untangling the Truth
Let’s quickly deconstruct how we ended up with this mindset and how we got addicted to mediocrity.
Just like the young elephant calf, our conditioning started at a young age. School was all about that “One right answer”. Deviations were discouraged and we always obliged. After all who wants to be a misfit. It’s safer to do as told.
Schooling should be about - learning to think and learning to problem solve.
After school when it was time to pick a profession, we gravitated towards what’s trending and which job pays the most. Engineers, Doctors etc.
Perhaps we didn’t even resist like the elephant calf. We always conformed.
No wonder after a few years of work, we end up feeling helpless and confused.
What Next?
I don’t have an answer for you today. May be you can ask yourself some good questions and seek honest answers.
Are we trapped in our current lifestyle? → [Safety?]
What are the interesting things we have done in our life? → [Let’s Rise]
May be we believe too much like Captain Scott. [more on this on another day]
Are we stuck in an ideology? → [Rethink]
Are we able to choose the right inputs for our mind? → [Freedom of choice]
Are we able to choose the best things to do with our time? → [Freedom to choose]
We will note that the battle to make the right choice; to use our freedom, lies in our head. There may be unconscious ‘ropes’ that keep us bound.
Seeing things as they truly are, rather than how we’d imagined them to be, is a powerful first step. We can literally re-wire ourselves.
Very well brought out , persons or institutions who / which were able to keep pace with the changing times and challenge the status quo , have rightfully been acknowledged as successful. Most difficult part is to review your own beliefs, opinions and perceptions and get suitable alterations/ realignments.Thanks
Very true often we make boundaries around us and limit ourselves within it. This is what we wise men say we should think out of box. In Hindi there is a saying “Kuwen ka Mendak” (frog who lives in a pond will think that the world is only within the pond), in daily life we also have our mindset is fixed to such myths and we don’t grow.
Basically we need to try new horizons and keep minds open as we will only only fail if we quit.