Perspective

Misty scene

Last night as as I crawled into bed, making myself comfortable and wondering just what I might write about this morning, I thought about perspective. Do I want to write about myself and what's going on in my life, or what I perceive as the state of today's world? It all depends on how you look at a situation, whether it seems positive, negative, or neutral. Or whether you can get enough distance from a situation to appreciate its meaning.

Here we are in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, and I am trying to make sense of things. I was born in December and think of it as "my" month, when the days are short and the nights long. I actually prefer the shorter days, since I have trouble getting to sleep when the sun is still shining, but I must do it anyway for much of the year. These days it seems that I barely begin my day when it's time for the sun to set. The actual length of a day at this latitude is barely eight hours at this time of the year, so I'm not imagining it. It gives me plenty of time to sleep and let my body recover from whatever I've subjected it to during the day. 

The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don't have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it. —Chris Pine

One of the things I like to do in these Sunday morning musings is to find a quote to share, or one that might help me gain some perspective. Sometimes I think I will never get going, never find an actual theme to work around, and other times it refuses to budge away from some predetermined direction. This morning it seems that it's the latter situation, and I wonder how to tap into the message I'd like to deliver.

I keep thinking about how sometimes I feel like a body with a brain, my eyes like headlights shining out into the world, taking in whatever lies in my path. It is rooted in the small perspective of a single human, with eyes to perceive the world, and a brain that tries to interpret what it sees. That is the narrowest perspective any of us deals with, and it reminds me of the parable of the blind men who are confronted with an elephant, as they try to figure out what it is. The moral of the parable is that humans tend to claim absolute truth based on their limited, subjective experience as they ignore other people's limited, subjective experience. I believe that sums it up: there is no way for me to have any sort of truth emerge from the limited perspective of my own single viewpoint.

Therefore, I can also try to figure things out by widening my perspective, and becoming involved with the larger world, and hopefully a more objective truth. Now that in itself is a dilemma, for where can I look to find the news of the world? In one sense, that is not much different from the blind man trying to figure out the meaning of the elephant. I myself choose to read several different news outlets, but I realize they all skew towards my own preconceived beliefs. There is no objectivity in these outlets, but frankly I am wondering if there is any place, anywhere at all, to find out the truth of what is happening in the world today. My solution is to take it all with a grain of salt, reading widely but with skepticism. Or perhaps there really is no objective truth, everything is subjective and I must learn to deal with that reality and not try to find something that doesn't exist.

Whether it's true or not, I feel that we here on Planet Earth are at a crossroads. One where we decide to come together and agree with one another, or break into factions that attempt to convince the other side that it is wrong. This doesn't seem to me to be a good solution. But what else can we do? How can we find a way out of this dilemma? Unfortunately, I cannot see any way out, so I do what many of us have a tendency to do: deny the conflict and distract myself with diversions that give me pleasure. It will work for awhile, but I know that underneath the conflict still sits there, waiting and knowing that it's impossible to carry on like this indefinitely. 

When I am beginning to relax enough to fall asleep at night, there is one tiny thread that keeps coming back to me: that I am not alone. That somehow there is a higher being present. I can only access its presence by laying aside my preconceived notions, my own limited perspective, and allowing the presence a chance to take over my thoughts, take over my troubled mind. I find myself in prayer. 

Before long, I am feeling less troubled and despair takes a holiday. When I allow myself to pray to that higher power, I am comforted. And I realize the truth that I am not alone, that giving myself a conduit to another reality is the only way to deal with the dilemma of my limited perspective. It also doesn't make me feel conflicted, and even the tiniest little bit of joy begins to emerge from the darkness, and the world has transformed from dark to light. It's as if the sun has come over the horizon and I can have hope for a better world.

It is amazing how that shift in my perspective transforms, well, everything. How I was in despair and once it lifted, I feel the presence of others here with me. My family, my friends both actual and virtual, I can feel myself lifted up and held in the light of love. I had forgotten about love, how looking at the world through the headlights of my eyes, how different it looks when love is present. I believe it was Martin Luther King who said, "I have decided to stick with love, since hate is too great a burden to bear."

That is where I end up this morning: in joy, feeling the presence of love all around me, feeling the presence of my dear partner next to me, and having found myself once again able to greet the day with love. I am so very grateful for the perspective of being a person in the arms of LOVE. 

Until we meet again next week, be well and be sure to find plenty of ways to say thank you. I know you will.