The unseen is as important as the seen, sometimes, more important.
On the night of April 14, 1912, the greatest maritime tragedy in the history of sailing happened. 2,235 souls crowded aboard the R.M.S Titanic, oblivious of the tragedy that would befall them. A musical band played beneath the decks in the first-class lounge. Lovers held hands and swayed to the rhythm of the music, the waters, and the experience of the largest, and most sumptuous luxury liner that had ever sailed. The night watch paced the bridge high above this 900ft ship with 16 watertight compartments whose overconfident captain had made a pre-voyage boast, “Not even God can sink her”.
The designers had calculated that even if four of the watertight compartments should burst, the ship would still float. However, on this night, headed for her destination in New York, disaster struck. Six of the compartments exploded and started sucking in water. ‘The ship of dreams’ was swallowed by the ice-strewn midnight waters of the Atlantic. 1,522 people died in those dark waters including the entire band. Only 713 survived to tell the tale. 84 years later, the movie I am watching was produced. This tragedy will be remembered with nostalgia and sadness.
Many theories have emerged as to what really happened, and all have pointed to a collision with an ICEBERG, or literally a mountain of ice. Historically, the demise of the Titanic was in not knowing the power and depth of an iceberg. The captains only saw the tip of the iceberg. What they didn’t know was that the bigger mountain lay beneath the water.
The iceberg principle
This principle points in the direction that only 1/10 of an iceberg mass is seen outside, while 9/10 (the bulk) is masked underwater. Ignorance of this fact caused the Titanic disaster and is still causing debacle in many lives.
According to this principle, we spend 90% of our time and resources concerned with superficial things (material, appearance, fashion, others' opinion of us) and 10% on the underlying things (emotions, unconscious, immaterial, spiritual). That is tragic. The 90% we ignore makes our sail to destiny a dream that never materializes, bringing the wheels of our destiny vehicle to a screeching halt.
Focus on your inner self
We spend a lot of time and money on how we appear from the outside as the inner man is ignored. Buying a good book to feed our soul and spirit is an expense that we never want to incur, but a suit or dress going for up to five times the cost of the book is an expense we incur with a smile. A lot of time can easily be spent in front of a mirror or at every store window or glass-walled building on a busy city street. We watch our own reflection as we walk, yet we are never careful to take time to reflect and soul search and see the areas in our inner world that need some makeover, then take the necessary steps.
Take time and check your foundations or source of inspiration, motivation, and zeal. It is almost certain that anything that is not well-rooted will soon rot. The source of your dreams will determine if they stand or sink. Regardless of where you want to go, you will take the path of your belief systems, thoughts, and attitudes. Positive or negative, whether you know it or not.
Character leads to destiny
If we have wrong belief systems as part of our mental makeup, then even the finest logic will be flawed and it will destroy that which is real. Even the emotions we abhor have an underlying wrong way of thinking or attitude…work on that, win the battle in the mind.
Your well-defined value system defines your character. Character leads to destiny. It is said, if you lose money, you’ve lost nothing, if you lose your health, you’ve lost something, but when you lose your character, you’ve lost everything!
We have a greater destiny than now. Your value system will either protect or damage it before you get there. Take time and work on those flaws before they bring you down.
Our behaviour, good or bad, is only the tip of the iceberg, the real thing lies inside, and that’s what we should concern ourselves with. The iceberg principle applies.
Don’t be a slave to the visible immediate, rather, allow yourself the freedom to see the invisible.
