What If...???

What if? The question we are constantly asking ourselves, no matter the situation, time, or place, it still remains pertinent. Do you ever wonder, why this what if? Let's put it this way, what is it that makes us human: culture, sex, shelter, food, or is it the exploratory spirit of what if.  It's this journey of what if that separates humans and animals. The possibility of being able to materialize our very future just by thinking is nothing short of a miracle. Take dogs for instance, they can't actualize their life after a year; they can't do long-term planning to attract more female dogs. But we humans can create reality out of thin imagination, by dedicating our thoughts to a particular action. Think about this for a moment, how magical it is to be able to build and materialize things that only exist in our imagination. 

Do you know that this ability to create future simulations and be able to choose the most optimum pathway is directly linked to success in life as well? We don't know precisely why some people are successful, or who will become successful in the future (depending upon whatever the accepted criteria of success for a society), but psychologists believe that it has to do with our capacity to run as many different simulations as possible. That's why it is said, "Think carefully before you act", it gives us a better chance of not only survival but actually succeeding, be it any situation. I request you all, please don't bring up arguments like, what about an accident, should we keep thinking and not act. This is a philosophical argument to analyze the nature of what if, not a guideline.

Our lives are filled with many big and small what-if moments. We see someone beautiful, and our inner self starts revelling in the thought of sex. We see an expensive car, and once again, our mind instantly moves towards owning it. The list of what-if's is non-exhaustive. Every expensive, beautiful, or ego-satisfying thing we see around, we want it. Yet all that desire, never manifests truly and leads to fruition, but why? The answer to all these unfulfilled desires lies in our laziness, never letting us reach the path of action, keeping us at the bay of thoughts and inaction. 

Our minds are future projections machines that are making thousands of simulations every day, yet only a few thoughts reach their destination. Running these simulations sucks out a lot of energy and often leaves us in a state of inaction, thus giving up the things we desire. We as a species, live our lives not by getting into well-thought-out actions, but by the long-form habits that do not require a lot of thinking. Giving up on these habits and chasing all these what ifs is really hard. Biologically, we are not designed to do anything that consumes more energy, but at the same time, humans are also gifted with the curiosity to build and seek truth and beauty. Depending upon one's nature or genetic makeup, one will take prevalence and move in a particular direction accordingly. 

Now it is important to understand the beauty and need of what if, but we are not endowed with this capacity to only seek pleasure and spend our lives chasing fantasies. What if can easily become a trap that keeps us engaged in non-sensical pleasure-seeking activities. Identifying what is the right what-if is the key to both, contentment and misery. The correct what-if could either put us on a path of self-discovery, building great things, and achieving every dream of ours or it could make us a petty little person, jealous of other's success and always eyeing on other's things and status. 

But the real question is what is the right what-if, and how do we identify the right what-if even when it presents itself. To be honest, I might be as clueless as all of you, but we shall still try to reach and think of something that makes some sense at least. Let's think of this what-if in detail with an example, what if I have a million-dollar? This is a perfectly valid what-if, what do you think, does it belong to the good or bad? I would say both, it's rightness and wrongness depend on why. The deeper question behind this what-if lies in why, why do I need a million dollars in the first place? If I say that, it is needed to build a business that can ultimately help a lot of people and bring purpose and value to my life, this what-if automatically becomes good, but if the reason is something that borders on ego satisfaction and proving others small, it starts becoming a bad what-if. There is no doubt about the what-if's importance, but equally important is its justification. we can't just go and fantasize about all the what-if, without actually finding a reason and motivation to do it.

What-if's should be earned through patience and hard work not by dreaming and fantasizing. But the most interesting thing about what-if is not just about getting the things we want, but it's about expanding our perception, and letting us achieve feats that are unimaginable by most. What-if I could inspire people to be more kind and loving, what-if I could run a marathon, what-if I could serve my life to god, or many similar things. The true power of what-if is only divulged and realized once the ego starts subsiding. Ego is the biggest killer of the wonderful spirit of what-if, people who understand the meaning of what-if not only change their own lives, but they change the entire human history. The greatest of the scientific discoveries are born with this what-if, at the same time, the greatest of the misery of human history is also born with this what-if. If one what-if can lead to the discovery of the Theory of Relativity then the other could also lead to the creation of the Third Reich. 

So, go ahead and find why to your what-if. One day you might change someone's life, or even yours.