A pre-scripted, boring and dead future

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

A man and a nail had a conversation. The nail said, “I have often wondered during my years, sticking here in this panel what my fate is to be.” The man said, “Latent in your situation, maybe a tearing out with pliers, a burning of wood, the rotting of the plank, so many things.” Said the nail, “I should have known better than to ask such foolish questions. Nobody can foresee the future, let alone a variety of them, all so unlikely.” So, the nail waited until someone else came along, someone who would talk intelligently and not threaten him.
~Sufi Story

Questioner (Q): While reading this story, I related myself with nail who is stuck in this situation. So, what this story means?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Self-deception, our refusal to accept the futility of our ways. As long as you are a nail, as long as you have made yourself into a nail, as long as you look at yourself as a nail…