Perspective and Points of View

Koko CraterGood Evening, God!

My wonderful husband, Kit, came back from his afternoon run with this lovely photo of Koko Crater.  Only it doesn’t look like the Koko Crater that I normal see.  The angle is different!  I know that is IS Koko Crater but, not the one I see normally.  And, of course, it looks rectangular — not circular — which is what it is.

It is beautiful . . . but not familiar.

In fact, if I was shown this image without knowing it was taken on Oahu and East Oahu at that I am not sure I would have been able to name it.

One of our tasks as we mature is to learn to recognize “reality” from a variety of viewpoints.  The speaker at our women’s retreat showed us a number of images which could be two different things — for example either a vase or two faces.  The reality of the image is such that both images can be seen with just a slight shift of focus.  But, if we don’t know that about the images we could have vicious arguments about which it is.  Faces! No! A Vase!

That seems to me to be a spot on analogy of our multiple divisions in our country.  And, once launched on an argument with our emotions engaged — it is very difficult to look for another way of seeing.

I suppose, God, that wouldn’t be quite so bad if it were not for our tendency to demonize our opponents.  Perhaps, this is  a basic problem with living in a dualistic world view.  Right or Wrong!  Good or Bad.  Hmm.  Reality is way too complex to be bifurcated.

Now wouldn’t that be a marvelous thing to teach children . . . well, to teach all of us.

Story teller,

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in complexity, connecting, images, The power of images, web of life

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blogs I Follow
Brené Brown

chatting and sometimes, listening

Rachel Naomi Remen

chatting and sometimes, listening

A Moment with God

chatting and sometimes, listening

Sacred Dance Guild Journal

Since 1958 articles by members & guests offer news about activities, history, Sacred Dance practices, profiles of Sacred Dancers, choreography, images & illustrations.

Victoria Paulsen

How to Step In -- Substitute Teaching

Brené Brown

chatting and sometimes, listening

Rachel Naomi Remen

chatting and sometimes, listening

A Moment with God

chatting and sometimes, listening

Sacred Dance Guild Journal

Since 1958 articles by members & guests offer news about activities, history, Sacred Dance practices, profiles of Sacred Dancers, choreography, images & illustrations.

Victoria Paulsen

How to Step In -- Substitute Teaching

%d bloggers like this: