Stupidity is also contextual. If all except "one" in a village believe in some ghost and the "one" challenges the existence of the ghost, that "one" will look quite stupid. Similarly, if all but "one" believe that the Earth is flat, that "one" will appear quite stupid. If all except "one" believe that life on the Earth is the end of the universe, that "one" will look quite stupid. "Intelligence", where "stupidity" exists in abundance looks quite "stupid".
In a well a colony of frogs, which has never come out of the well, suddenly meets "one" frog who has seen the open sky and the ocean. That "one" frog somehow got a chance to move out of the well and once he moved out and looked at the vastness of the world, he thought that he would go back to the well and tell everybody about the vastness of the world so that the frogs living inside the well get a chance to see the vastness of the world. Enthusiastically, he goes back to the well to talk to the frogs living inside the well. The frogs inside the well look at the "one" with surprise and call him stupid. He tries to convince by giving all the logic and explaining what he saw. But the frogs inside the well cannot appreciate what the "one" is saying. They hold a meeting among themselves and declare the "one" to be a threat to the well and hang him to death.
We have had many such people in our society who try to make society aware of the larger picture and the society of the day has crucified, poisoned, and killed such people. By the time the relevance of their message is understood, they are gone. There are very few such people whose message could be understood during their lifetime. They are often declared mad and stupid.
Most people choose the default option of staying inside the well. That's a safe option. We all have heard the stories of Bhagat Singh being hanged, Christ being crucified, and Socrates being poisoned. We do not want to die. Staying inside the well is the easiest option. Most people are dead inside. There is no life left inside them and the only desire they have is to keep enjoying pleasant sensations of comforts, pleasures, and accumulation of wealth and powers. They keep making efforts to be the "king of the well". They keep fighting among themselves to claim that position. They cannot even think outside the well. They live in complete ignorance and die in ignorance. Some have some glimpses of awareness and make occasional efforts to come out of the well and soon get exhausted. Either they do not make sufficient efforts, do not have the capacity, or get bogged down by the leg-pulling of their fellow well dwellers.
The "ones" who have a conviction to move out of the well can't look at the frogs inside the well for support and guidance. Obviously, they are going to ridicule the free souls. They cannot understand and appreciate the efforts to come out of the well. For them, it is a stupid endeavor. The free souls will have to find their own inspirations. There are at least three things required to fly freely. The first is capacity. A kite can fly high while a pigeon can fly low. The more time and energy we invest in flying and greater our capacity to fly. The second is the weight. The heavier the weight and more difficult it is to fly. Ostriches, Penguins, and Kivis can't fly due to their weight. The more we are engrossed with the material world the more difficult it is for us to fly. The third is the mindset. at the end of the day, we should have the willingness to fly otherwise despite the capacity and light weight, we will never fly.
Most people do not want to move their comfort zone even an inch. We will of course find fellow birds when we fly but will have to leave the frogs inside the well. It's not possible to carry the frogs on our backs. In fact, they will kill us if we ever try that or fall down due to fear of heights. Once we fly freely, we will always find fellow free birds. However, it seems quite an impossibility to live inside the well and fly freely in the sky. People who can't fly themselves can't see others flying and try their level best to bring them down. That's why it is all the more important for the flying birds to support each other. The journey from the depths of the well to the open sky is full of fun and wonders but it is also tiring sometimes because the well is quite deep and the gravity of the well is quite strong. However, at the end of the day, awareness is the sole guiding force to come out of the darkness and constraints of the well to the light and freedom of the sky. Its not possible to fly inside the well.
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