Perspective

I thinking just a wee bit about perspective today. No, no, I know it is a huge subject and anyone of us could go on forever about all aspects of perspective.

Mostly I was thinking about a quaint village not far from my city as I looked though some photos from a previous visit.

And I noticed something I had not before.

I remember soaking up the feelings evoked by the place. The beauty of it, The smells. The quaintness of it. A visual that it looked like a Hallmark card in real time. You get the idea.

I love looking at photos. They don’t even have to be mine. I don’t even have to know the people in them. I can’t adequately explain how they make me feel.

Anyway, the photo above made me think about the beautiful flowers and bushes and I sighed at the memory of how peaceful I felt when I was there.

But then I noticed this:

And I found myself leaning forward and squinting.

Tucked in behind those plants and plantars -A yellow door. Well, more golden I suppose. I hadn’t noticed it at first.

Excitement. Intrigue. Mystery.

I am not exaggerating when I say my heart beat a little faster. There is a story here. I don’t know if I could be the one to tell it. But the excitement is because I saw it. I spied something not readily spied. And it evoked. It stimulated. It was a Wow moment. Does that sound very silly?

And then I thought – it (life, existence, being) is all about perspective. And, I wondered if we don’t cheat ourselves sometimes by perceiving at a shallow level. Accepting what we think we see, and judging, without looking deeper. Without seeking out that which is not easily seen.

Then those deep thoughts became much more shallow when I thought ’oh yeah that’s what the James Webb Space Telescope is doing. And there went my moment of deep thought. Except the JWST reminds me that humans have a history of being small minded. Long ago thinking the earth was the centre of the universe. Thinking that the sun and planets revolve around us. Thinking the rest of the universe is a dark void. I could have told them it wasn’t, not because I knew specifically what was out there, but because I know there is more.

Oh dear, that’s a whole other perspective thing, so North of 43 will stop for the moment, and bid you all an exciting new perspective night and day.

Chris G July 30th ’22

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