Tip of the Iceberg

What we see,

What we hear,

What we feel,

And what we imagine....

Are all nothing but a tip of an iceberg!

In my quest for trying to understand and express this idiom in a much better way, I simply googled the expression and it did give a great result.

Tip of the Iceberg:

Used as a noun in English language.

Meaning : Only the beginning; just a small indication of a larger possibility; a problem is much bigger than it seems.

Source : http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tip_of_the_iceberg

     I came across this term quite a few times over the past one month or so, it rang a bell every time. The latest being in the recent flick of the Bourne Series, 'The Bourne Legacy'. It was often stated with reference to something colossal hidden surreptitiously. Be it the case of simple political discussions that take place over a cup of coffee or sitting in a theatre and watching a plot unfold or taking about research with a colleague. At the end, it pushed me to contemplate about the numerous scenarios where this expression can be applied.

    Being a person in the field of research, the first thing that strikes me about the expression is a larger than life discovery or an invention like "The Higgs Boson", "The Wheel" etc. It is infact a dream for most people in any field to simply strike atleast a small tip in their lifetime, a driving force that helps people push themselves further and further. Now, this reminds me the words of an eminent Professor whom I approached for a research position some three years back, he said,"Doing a PhD is not an easy job it will suck the life out of you, it will drain you out physically, mentally and emotionally. After a few years when you have toiled enough and get a degree in your hand, you will no longer feel elated about it, all you will feel is indifference". I was an eager young boy who decided to leave all the comforts and take the hell's path to glory, he must have said it to a lot of people but these few words turned out to be a blessing for me. Looking at the brighter side of the expression, it allows for a lot of room to grow expand and investigate into the mysteries inspite of all the blows that one might have to take on the way. 

     I narrowed down further trying to understand the beauty of the expression, I came across something very interesting. Our human mind has been designed to such a perfection that most of us are hardly even aware of it, when one starts to push does one realize that the mind is a door which opens up an unlimited space of endless possibilities. Have you ever wondered why a familiar thought about the past comes to your mind out of the blue when you feel a bit low. It is always challenging to try and understand such things, but one needs to be open enough to explore even the darker side of the brain. Looking at the bigger picture, most of us try to strike a small tip of the beautiful iceberg in our own fields but the real iceberg lies in our own head. Once you find the right tip, everything else is just a piece of cake.