And does a giant crab dwelling at the bottom of the sea know that chemosynthesis in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents isn’t the only mechanism supporting life? That in a not-so-distant world, there are things such as chlorophyll in plants which use solar energy to do the same thing, which is producing food? Perhaps not. If we were able to communicate with the said giant crab without being eaten first, we might perhaps be able to let it know. Then again, the said giant crab might not care for the information. Not to mention the fact that it would probably die if we were to bring it out of its deep sea environment onto dry land.

In a way, that describes us. We don’t know that it’s dry, so to speak, even though we know what being wet is. This is because we’re too used to being dry and comfortable. Well, if you’re one of those guys who happen to be called SEALs, you might be perfectly comfortable either way, although I doubt it. Being constantly immersed in an environment tends to make us oblivious to its characteristics. In the book “7 Laws of Highest Prosperity” by Cecil O’Kemp, Jr, the story is told of how some villagers manage to rise above poverty and attain unto riches. Towards the end of the book, a few return to the village and try to persuade the villagers remaining behind that they, too, could do the same, but the villagers largely refused. The villagers refused to believe that they themselves could rise to attain prosperity. Indeed, they had a sort of perverse pride that, although they weren’t rich, they could at  least say that they made an honest living.

We might laugh at such foolish obstinacy. However, take a step back and ponder. How many of us are also in that situation? How many of us are simply content to survive rather than to thrive in business, in life? How many of us are even aware that all we are doing is surviving, that all we are doing is existing rather than living?

Or are we, like the proverbial fish, not knowing that it’s wet?