The other day, I took a long 10 hour solo flight. Before leaving, Andrew asked if I’d downloaded any movies or if I was going to “raw dog” my way through it. Guess what I chose? I spent nearly the entire flight 10 hours of a 13 hour journey to Serbia, just staring out the window.
I could’ve watched three-ish movies specifially Lord of the Rings extended edition because I've been wanting to rewatch that for ages, finished an entire season of a TV show, or listened to 200 songs. But no, I decided to do absolutely nothing.
It’s fascinating what happens when the mind has nothing to distract it.
The first few hours were spent simply observing, people traveling to build a life, to meet loved ones, to start over. I met a man who was flying to find a job, chasing the everyday struggle to survive on this small blue dot.
And then, my mind began to wander.
The Dream Within a Dream
A video I watched recently posed an interesting idea:
What if you could go to sleep and dream about anything, control every detail, wake up whenever you wanted, and remember everything?
At first, you’d probably dream about all the things you’ve ever wanted, food, travel, love, adventure. Then, you’d start to crave intensity: pain, risk, even fear, because you’d know you could always wake up safely.
Eventually, you might create entire lifetimes, not remembering that you were the one dreaming in the first place.
That thought made me wonder, what if all of existence is exactly that? A dream. A simulation. An illusion we cast upon ourselves to experience every possible version of life. Maybe you, I, and they are just fragments of the same entity, dreaming different dreams.
It reminds me why I’m drawn to Advaita Vedanta, the idea that you are not separate from reality. You are it. You are me. You are them.
Fundamentally, the iron in our blood was forged in the hearts of ancient stars, long before the first cells ever formed. On a cosmic scale, you, I, and everything around us are made of the same atomic particles, just arranged differently, behaving uniquely at the macro level.
All of us trying to make sense of the reality that we are!
That realization makes me want to step into other people’s shoes more often. To understand their perspectives, their behaviors, their trauma responses. Because maybe understanding others is just another way of understanding myself.
Multiply
It’s funny how humans, and every organism, really, are still doing what the first living cell did. Ed Sheeran even made an album about it: Multiply.
It’s something I often talk about with Subin, how the biological purpose of life is simply to create more life and ensure survival.
Most of human history has been a struggle toward that goal, wandering for food, discovering fire, inventing the wheel, tiny steps that made survival just a bit easier. Micro-improvements climbing up Maslow’s pyramid, both individually and collectively.
I was flying over the Syrian Desert thinking about this, the sheer willpower of those who once crossed such harsh terrain for survival. It’s mind blowing.
Or maybe, back then, it wasn’t even a desert. The Earth has changed so much in what is, cosmically speaking, just a few seconds.
Scale
On a macro scale, 99.999% of human lives won’t make a lasting impact. Maybe 0.001%, people like Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr, will. But even they’ll eventually fade into cosmic memory.
As Shakespeare said
"All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts,"
Yet, zoom in, and every single life matters immensely. Each person shapes the world around them in subtle ways, habits, thoughts, kindnesses that ripple outward.
You might pick up a small habit from someone close to you, and that single habit could change your entire life. That’s a kind of an impact too.
Lost
As we flew over Cyprus, I found myself thinking about Atlantis, which, as I later learned, is one of the proposed locations for it. Maybe Plato and I share an entangled brain cell.
A depressing thought crossed my mind: all the lives on that island that would be lost if the sea decided to swallow it. That thought actually came before Atlantis did. Funny how the mind works.
Would anyone remember that there was once land beyond the sea, a place that once held lives and stories of its own?
Language
That led me to think about how language, especially written language has preserved history. Even though so much has eroded, what remains is remarkable.
Written words are fragments of human thought, tiny time capsules of ideas, emotions, and discoveries. They tell stories that tried to make sense of existence, scientifically, spiritually, and emotionally.
And communication itself is such an underrated miracle. It only has meaning if there’s someone to receive it. Without that, even the most profound words mean nothing.
Sitting With My Thoughts
Honestly, this was my favorite part of traveling, just sitting with my thoughts and letting my brain wander freely.
One thing I’ve noticed: when left alone, my thoughts always drift toward life and existence!
I should be spending more time thinking about B2B SaaS and shareholder value.
We all need something to do with the limited time we have. But every now and then, doing nothing might just remind us why we do anything at all.
I think, therefore I am
~ Fin
