The 4th Quadrant

Every intelligent human being as they grow in life, pass through various learning curves and as they do that, they add to themselves, their current state of intelligence, thoughts and feelings. For example, an intelligent guy at the age of 15 will add different things to his/her current status than at 21, 29, 36, 42 years and so on. While this journey continues, their exposure, experiences and intellect keep maturing over the years, thereby forming a structure within their brain. We call this their current vision, thoughts, imagination or intellect. At all these stages of life, they keep modifying their thoughts through their experiences, learning, situations and understanding which makes them wiser.

But people are of different kinds. There are some who stop growing, once, in their own eyes, they would have achieved what they wanted to, and stop growing further. Logical but limited. Again there are a few, like me, who whenever in terms of our learning curve, feel that we have reached a particular level, try and go back to zero and start learning yet again, by taking it in their stride, what they have learnt so far. It’s like the Pandavas’ journey to heaven. Some fell along the way, and only one succeeded to reach the top. Personally for me, when I am in a somber mood and think of my own journey in life, I am very surprised to say the least. For the first few years, intellectually my growth was manageable and could be comprehended. But in the last 12-15 years, the intellectual growth multiplied manifold, far beyond my own comprehension. At times, there were several dots in the growth curve, but the summation was perfect and satisfying.

What does that mean? It means, there were situations, which I crossed without completely understanding why I did and then looked back to see that it was heartening that I did. It’s a crazy path. So, I decided not to think about it too much and break my perceived journey into small blocks for the future and even there were dots, as I could not plot everything in those blocks. So, my life now has become a journey of dots, lines and graphs and as they emerge within me, some of the dots get connected. The only problem I face, when that happens, is many of my friends, associates, not to speak of my family, misunderstand me. But I tell myself, that’s a cost I will have to pay, in order to keep learning and experiencing life in its true colors, as all the things which happen all the time are not understood. But the common key is to keep yourself open minded. I give this example to many of you, about the 4th quadrant of the rectangle being open, in an otherwise closed life and how fresh thoughts and ideas flow in through that open 4th quadrant and make life more meaningful and for me, completes my journey.

I would like to believe, many of us go through this, but maybe some do not understand and some do not say it aloud. For me it’s neither. I am sharing this, so that many more people can come out in the open with me and we can then form a forum to share our journey on an ongoing basis. What do you think?