Black Swan

 

Photo Credit: Quora | Do Black Swans Exist?

Black Swan

When we think of swans, we picturise a very graceful, huge, gentle bird which is pure white and it is also considered to be an epitome of love. The black swan was discovered in Australia in the late seventeenth century and till then the black swan was just a myth. A black swan is a metaphor that describes something rare, impossible or non-existent. Now, if we consider human beings in comparison with the size of the Universe – would we then call ourselves Black Swans? It is said that there are more than 2 trillion galaxies in the universe, there are about a 100 billion planets our Milky Way galaxy, Earth is just one of those planets, there are 10 million species of life on earth and the human population is 7.6 billion!

Just being alive is a blessing, a rarity when you compare it to the vastness of the universe. So, considering the above as Taleb in his book ‘Black Swan’ said that all humans too are black swans. This is because in the universal scheme of things we are less than the tiniest speck of dust, we are so insignificant that it really does not matter. As Taleb writes in his book, “Imagine a speck of dust next to a planet a billion times the size of the earth. The speck of dust represents the odds in favour of you being born; the huge planet would be the odds against it.”

After billions of years of evolution, we need to sit and introspect on how we actually got here. Humans do not show gratitude for even being alive, which itself is the rarity. We rarely express gratitude or remorse, taking life for granted – this shows up in different ways in our life – complaining bitterness, jealousy and discontentment. What is worse is that this jealousy and discontent is passed on from generation to generation – we have witnessed this throughout history even though gratitude has been given primacy in all religious and philosophical theories. Despite its known importance we forget to express our gratitude and over time, unknowingly we are weighed down by our problems and our troubles, which then begin to define us.

Albert Einstein said, “The value of a man resides in what he gives and not what he is capable of receiving.” Be grateful for what you have and can give. Remember the universal law, whatever we get in excess is meant to be shared with those who do not have it. We can start giving more the moment we change our mindset from ‘I need’ to ‘I’m grateful for….’. Once you start becoming grateful it changes the way you see the world and your place in it. The effort to change the mindset is minimal but the effect is disproportionately monumental and beneficial. Remember that you are a Black Swan – very rare – make use of your life on earth to share joy, love, happiness, peace and kindness – the more you give, the more you get – a cardinal principle of karma.