Hello all,
This is CryptoGates. I am a highly introspective person who prefers to spend most of his time in his own mind. For the past year, I have experienced what psychologists would diagnose as depression. However, I was able come out victorious against this foul foe thanks to the power of my introspection, which enabled me to seek out the very source of my enemy's power, the unhappiness. As it turns out, the problem lied in the contradiction between my inner-most values and my actions. To those of you going through a similar battle, I hope this post offers you some insights that you may find useful in your respective battles against this enemy.
First, I would like to share a story of a hummingbird named Taki:
Taki lived in a forest along with many other forest animals. One day, there was a massive forest fire that threatened the lives of all the inhabiting animals. Taki, in an effort to put out the fire, used his little beak to such up bits of water then released a droplet each time onto the fire.
Seeing Taki, other forest animals laughed and mocked at Taki’s vain effort. Upon their reaction, Taki simply replied, “I am just doing what I can…”
Did anyone else feel warm tingling sensations from this story? It’s a quite simple story, but this story, for some reason, have stuck with me ever since the day I first read it. Perhaps some of you will feel the same way as I did and may choose to retell others of this story of the brave hummingbird who risked his life to do what is right despite the obvious outcome.
Or, you could be the one who sympathizes more with the other forest animals that laughed at Taki’s vain effort, and may simply think Taki as a fool for risking his life for something that he has no control over.
I don’t think there is a definite right or wrong answer to how one should view Taki’s action, either as foolish or as a bravery, or perhaps even both. But what I could tell you is that, depending on how you feel and think about Taki’s action and the story, it may reveal a bit about your inner values and yourself.
People who only value logic, results, and objectivity may consider Taki’s action as irrelevant or even as wasteful. Since Taki did not and cannot make any difference to the outcome, any energy spent on it knowingly is simply unreasonable, therefore, foolish.
Yes, it is hard to argue that he is not a fool. But it is also hard to argue that there is no beauty or merit in his actions either, simply because they are in the subjective domain. The beauty that I am talking about is Taki’s selfless and pure intentions; Taki could have easily flown away for his own safety, yet he chose in his own volition to put his life on the line for the sake of other forest animals. The merit I am talking about is his bravery; Taki, a small hummingbird, undertaking the action despite the great odds against his insignificant self is nothing less of the bravery in its highest form. There are countless things that logic simply ignores but are what brings beauty into this world.
The point is, as human beings, we are at a constant struggle between our logic and our heart. And each of us lies on various points in the spectrum of scale between these two things, which makes us have such differing views and perspectives on matters like this. Personally for me, this story showed me that my inner-most values are not of logic but of feelings. I was taught to be logical my whole life, and feelings to be ignored. However, living and acting in contradiction with my inner-most values, or feelings, have brought me great unhappiness. Because, our feelings are what comes from the within of our intrinsic self; yet logic, on the other hand, comes from the outside, the objective point-of-view. This detached point-of-view hence disregards our feelings and inner-most values.
I believe that humans beings were not meant to be solely a logical being. What it means to be a human, in my opinion, is bringing more beauty into this world by fulfilling our inner-most values. Logic should only be a tool to achieve that means, meaning it should only be used as means to an end to fulfilling our inner-values.
If anyone feels their life lacks a purpose or direction, perhaps searching for your inner-most values would be a good place to start. Ask yourself, are you the hummingbird or the other forest animals?