How to experience the world
A lesson from the dancing masquerade.
Picture this: A masquerade dancer moves through a crowded arena, spinning, leaping, telling stories with every gesture. The costume catches light differently as it turns. The meaning shifts with each step.
Now imagine you're watching from the crowd, planted in one spot. You see fragments—a flash of colour, part of the dance, pieces of the story. But the full picture? That requires movement.
Nigerian author Chinua Achebe once shared about the Igbo proverb that says, "The world is a dancing masquerade. If you want to understand it, you can't remain standing in one place."
"I believe in the complexity of the human story and that there's no way you can tell that story in one way and say, This is it. Always there will be someone who can tell it differently depending on where they are standing; the same person telling the story will tell it differently. I think of that masquerade in Igbo festivals that dances in the public arena. The Igbo people say, If you want to see it well, you must not stand in one place. The masquerade is moving through this big arena. Dancing. If you're rooted to a spot, you miss a lot of the grace. So you keep moving, and this is the way I think the world's stories should be told—from many different perspectives."
The proverb warns us not to get so rooted in one thing that we miss the possibility of change. Even our most cherished beliefs sometimes need to shift. No condition is permanent. And if we stay fixed in our views, convinced that our angle is the only angle, we miss the grace of it all.
So this week, consider this your invitation to move:
Ask someone how they experienced that moment you remember so clearly.
Approach an old situation from a different angle and notice what changes.
What are you absolutely certain about? What makes you this certain?
Keep moving,
Team FUEL.
When was a moment you saw something differently, and everything shifted? Share it with us in the comments or submit your lesson here!