Out Of The Box Thinking ?

Long Long ago ,Two teams one comprising of "devas"(good) and other of "asuras"(bad) were made. They were posed with the problem that both the teams will be provided with sufficient food, but they could eat it only if they could eat without folding their elbow joint and they were not provided with any other means. Now they all had a problem!! how could one eat without folding elbow joint ? Isn't it all but natural to eat like that ?? But then when faced with the hunger problem both the teams put their thinking hats on!.

After a week when they were both to be evaluated , god( judge ) enters both the room, he is surprised to see completely contrasting results in the rooms. When the devas were happy and contended , there was blood bath with broken hands/legs also with some dead bodies among asura's . So wanting to know the secret, god asked both the teams what they did.

Asura's told that they could not find any idea but to try to cut of others hands/ hegs and try to use it without folding one's elbow joint when some were partially successful the trend picked up which later resulted into a sport/survival activity to maim others to save self, although some were unhappy.The end result being several injured with the living always in constant fear.

God nodded as he understood and turned to devas to see how they overcame the problem , devas told that when they could not eat with their own hands without folding the elbow joint , they saw a mother feeding her son and then an idea struck and they decided to feed each other without bending the elbow joint and still contended and satisfying each other's needs living in harmony.

This seemingly simple story carries a lot of significance.. When the basic message like team work , symbiosis are evident , what we need to notice here is "Thinking out of box" ,When we are faced with the problem we are so carried away by the norm and are streamlined in thoughts that we forget the problem but start caring about position and personal stake.

so i suppose it makes a lot of sense to deviate from the obvious as there is benefit for the self hidden in collective benefit , Thus it need not always be a cut throat competition.

As i say this, i remember the mythical pencil story in spacecraft of soviet nation which turned out had repurcussions so , when all the "Thinking out of box" may not be a happy ending it is still worth the try.I cant find better words than the following PS I Love You quote to capture it

"All I know is, if you don't figure out this something, you'll just stay ordinary, and it doesn't matter if its a work of art or a taco, or a pair of socks! Just create something... new, and there it is, and its you, out in the world, out side of you and you can look at it, or hear it, or read it, or feel it...and you know a little more about... you. A little bit more than anyone else does... Does that make any sense at all?"

Why this post ? Just wanted to thank the every "first" person who could think out of the box to Invent wheel , Think of concept "0" , Think of making chapati's / bread from wheat!!(strange we dont keep list of such important people!!) , Think of delegating brain job to flip flops! to have made my / countless lives better ( ofcourse easy too :D )!!.

In this context i remember a famous snippet from mankutimmana kagga by DVG :

ಅಕ್ಕಿಯೊಳಗನ್ನವನು ಮೊದಲಾರು ಕಂಡವನು

ಅಕ್ಕರದ ಬರಹಕ್ಕೆ ಮೊದಲಿಗನಾರು

ಲೆಕ್ಕವಿರಿಸಿಲ್ಲ ಜಗ ತನ್ನಾರು ಬಂಧುಗಳ

ದಕ್ಕುವುದೆ ದೆಸೆ ನಿನಗೆ ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ||

I Don't Know

When a question is asked no matter whether the addressee knows the answer or not , there is always "Err I think" "It might be..." "Hmmm lets think...." , sometimes even worse "I definitely know it to be ...." (and say all crap without even addressing the question but by making sure it is packaged such that the one who has asked to question is totally off the track and believes the question is answered) . More often than not, one faces such situation. There are no exceptions , Even the most learned one's have been a prey to this Error.

This made me think about it, Is it so difficult to say I don't know ?? Wouldn't it be better instead to at least say that "I am not aware of it at this point in time " but definitely take an action to either figure it out or ask someone else you think might know? But no! In most of the cases it doesn't happen. Very few people i have come across have the courage to tell "I don't know" . Ofcourse every new situation would demand a learning curve and you start from zero , So what is wrong in admitting ? Is EGO such a big a factor ? If so what is the use of it , if it is coming in the path of one's own growth ?

As i was thinking about this topic , a bollywood song "Tujhe yaad na meri aayi" from kuch kuch hota hai was playing ... It reminded me of a story, It goes as follows.. There were two birds sitting on the same tree , they were inseparable yet different . One bird always was busy eating fruits in the tree , and was busy either enjoying the fruit or lamenting about its bitterness , but the other bird was always looking at this one with full of compassion and love as if to ask why was it always so engrossed in fruits when there were better things to do , but first one chose to either ignore or give a gibberish response and continued its course... This went on for years but one fine day when the same question was asked ,Instead of its regular response it said "I don't know , Can you please tell me what should i do ? " That response changed its future , It never had to go through the same troubles ever again.. It learnt how to live.

Many a times all it takes is to say "I don't Know" to find answers or to lead a better life, than putting up false pretenses and fooling oneself and others.. But is it easy ? I need to check with that bird.