"Be practical...and the game is over. And you end up being on the losing side." Because being practical means living a safe and balanced life, getting a good job, taking care of everyone, marrying at an appropriate age (as if its age dependent..funny.. isn't it ?) ... yes, all these good things, but one..following your passion, doing what you really believe in. How come is it the losing side? Difficult to see, is it ? It's simple. When we are being practical, we are doing all those good things, the things which society thinks is good. The bigger tragedy or irony is that the people which this society is made of, individually, at the bottom of their hearts may not believe all this to be good.
Are you able to see that the society's opinion is actually no one's opinion? This makes it extremely dangerous. Thus, society is difficult concept, as those who try to understand it have my due respect.
But what does it mean by following your passion ? How do I know what my passion is ?
Think of a world where you know no one. The terms like respect, status, power do not exist. A world where what you are is all that matters, not what others think you are. This is very important, because today, what people want is their colleagues and neighbors to think that they are doing a great job, whatever be the reality, whatever be the turmoil they are facing inside. They are "happy" as long as people believe they are happy. No, actually they are not even happy. It is a weird kind of happiness...and it is strange kind of world we are heading to.
Coming back to passion, think of the world where relations, social status, power,etc.. are meaningless words. The society, your friends, your relatives don't think about you. What would you do then ? Instinctively, many people would say they would do nothing productive, just laze around, sleep.But I bet you won't. You will do what you love. You will do what your passion is. And, you have known it,always, even since you were a little kid, but the society has led you into believing that its not practical. And that belief has been hardwired into you so strongly since childhood that you seem to have forgotten your passion. And as a kid, you just wanted to do it, you didn't care about what status or money it would bring along. That was passion....maybe, someday , you can say : ' That is my passion' .
We were right when we were kids because we were honest. You might have wanted to build great machines, but you never thought, at that time, whether people would buy it or not, whether others would appreciate it or not. All that mattered was that it was going to be a great machine. You may have wanted to join the army or be magician or the President , solving the nations greatest problems, or you may have wanted to be a hair dresser, or you may have wanted to travel. But you have forgotten it all. We all forget it. Why ? Because everyone tells us that we need to be practical.
"In the second before our death, each of us understands the real reason our existence and out of that moment Heaven or Hell is born. Hell is when we look back during that fraction of a second and know that we wasted an opportunity to dignify the miracle of life. Paradise is being able to say at that moment : 'I have made mistakes, but I wasn't a coward. I lived my life and did what I had to. "
