Are we actually different from the masses? A child thinks differently, looks at the world differently and has many dreams which seem quite different from those of the masses. He may look upon others with contempt, as if they are entangled in this mundane life due to their indolence and limited thought. He may further feel as if he would have a totally different and fabulous future since he is extensively educated, together with the golden complement of diligence. He always gets this intuition that his life is going to be extraordinary. He will not get stuck in this crowd of mediocres who are just engrossed in sustenance and satiating their senses with the haughtiness of belonging to a particular strata of society. His fantasies seem ideally fantastic, though he never takes them as fancy dreams. Now you may feel this fellow is tremendously distant from the taste of reality. You are not entirely wrong in thinking so, but his lucid dreams are consequences of the idealistic views taught in his formative years.
Now, having completed his obligatory studies, he steps into the world with his aspirations, witnessing the naked dance of harsh realities. He keeps on convincing himself, with what he has learnt through years of academic life, that reality is just a deformed version of what he has learnt. He continues to try to create the world of his dreams, putting in extra effort because he is full of aspirations and has a deep urge to make a mark. But, with the passage of time, responsibilities start to linger upon him, and the constant tick of growing older makes him wretched.
Gradually, he starts to realise that he should first get something in hand just to maintain his sanity. All the pressures, whether from his expectations or from peers, family, and society at large, strip him of his quietude. Things feel odd not just because he is failing at his attempts but also because the consistent words of others moving ahead are set out to demoralise and sabotage his confidence. Consequently, he has no more faith in himself. All his aspirations seem like a distant dream, one that appears adorable only to adolescents who are oblivious to reality.
With every passing day, the world and the masses start to make sense. With every passing day, he finds himself humbled by life. He starts to understand why so many people remain mediocre. The people who could not climb Everest are not all lazy. There are many factors of which we are unaware. Gradually, he starts to have this constant feeling of being a speck in the larger spectrum of creation. He starts to feel as if things are taking their turn on their own. What is happening to him was never something he could have imagined in his wildest dreams. He starts to lose control over his life, and this experience marks the beginning of his transformation into a fatalist. Now, the rudder, the ship, and the sea are all under the control of fate as they have always been; only the illusion has begun to fade.