Heard the story of Alibaba and the forty thieves? Almost all of us did, right? Imagine you are hiding behind a rock near the thieves’ cave stealthily watching Alibaba’s actions. He lifts his hands in air like a wizard and utters the famous words, “Khul jaa sim sim!” Voilà! The stony doors of the cave open with a thunder. You follow Alibaba and glance over his shoulders. You’re stunned by the shine of the precious gems, jewels, and numerous ornaments. Suddenly, Alibaba turns around and gestures you to join in. You can’t believe your good fortune and are almost ready to go. But a terrific thought comes to your mind – what if I get stuck inside finding no escape? what if the lure of the wealth is too much to resist? can an urge to stay back become so strong that it will blind my vision although an escape route is in front of me?
The metaphor of the cave of the thieves may not be a perfect one. After all, the wealth in that cave didn’t belong rightfully to Alibaba too, one might say. Keep it aside for a moment. Consider just the dilemma faced by Alibaba in the moment of uncertainty when he first entered the cavernous expanse full of the unknowns. Had he not tried reciting the magical phrase before knowing its results for sure, could he witness the treasure? He took his chances and got handsomely rewarded. If things had gone against his favour, well…
Anyways, you may ask why all this fuss about an imaginary character from a fantasy story. It’s more relevant today than ever before, in my opinion. We are living in such unprecedented times when we are always dealing with the unforeseen. Effectively, we have got a lot of exposure to unfamiliar situations and should therefore have evolved organically to thrive on those successfully. However, our response happens to be quite counterintuitive. We are very good at adapting to the sudden challenges in life, but we are not that clever in embracing random opportunities. It’s like we’re in a survival mode perpetually.
In most of the cases, we know what needs to be done for living the life that we desire. We also know what our strengths and weaknesses are. We are aware where an eternal source of joy resides. We’ve to utter those magical words “Khul jaa sim sim” addressing the internal caves of our minds where the treasure of phenomenal ideas is hidden for so long. Above all, we need to gather the courage to act – to take the first steps once the doors to the treasure open.
iluvorchid 