New seeds, new realities

'Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric,' said Bertrand Russell. With a single sentence, the scientist-philosopher summed up how the greatest intellectual revelations in human history - for instance, the heliocentric (sun-centred) theory proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus - were received when they were first proposed. The belief that Earth stood at the centre of the universe was deeply embedded in religious, philosophical and social thinking. Copernicus's theory challenged not just science but also religious views.

What was once mocked as eccentricity was later validated through Galileo's telescopic observations and Johannes Kepler's mathematical laws of planetary motion. Galileo paid a heavy price for standing by the truth. His persecution stands as a reminder that societies often resist ideas that threaten established beliefs.

Indian mythology, too, reflects the same timeless truth. In Ramayan, Ravan's brother Vibhishan openly acknowledged greatness of Ram and warned Ravan of the destruction that would follow the abduction of Sita. Vibhishan was exiled from Lanka. His loyalty to righteousness was ridiculed before it was recognised as wisdom.


Across cultures and centuries, those who spoke truth endured rejection, punishment and isolation. Yet, time transformed them into true heroes. Their ideas, once considered foolish, became foundations of wisdom. New ideas are seeds of new realities. Progress has always emerged from courage and new ideas.