September 19, 2009 - Expand Your Perspective

In the body, all we really are is just a perspective of the Creator. The vast majority of us are a very limited perspective. We are limited by the filters that we each carry, which I have discussed in a prior writing. Perhaps the greatest of all filters is our body consciousness. We are limited by the filters of our five senses, as well as our hunger, thirst, fatigue and body weaknesses.

Anything that we digest through the five senses and body consciousness is very limited and illusory information. For example, I have always had a distaste for cheese. My best friend is one of the biggest cheese lovers on the planet. If we went to a cheese store together, he would be roaming around, wide-eyed, while I would be holding my nostrils closed, desiring to leave as soon as possible. The scents of the different cheeses are the same sensory input for each of us, but that input is digested and processed differently by each of us, due to our individual body consciousness. His senses love cheese, while mine detest it.

One way to expand our perspective is to step outside of ourselves; to step into someone else's shoes. When we attempt to see things through someone else's eyes, especially when the other's perspective is opposed to our own, we are expanding our perspective. For instance, when we are arguing with someone, we mostly see things only from our own standpoint. I am right, and s/he is wrong. This type of thinking is totally tied to our individual filters and body consciousness. The other person has a different way of filtering the same information, so, from her or his perspective, s/he is right, and I am wrong. Everybody has a justification for what they say, do and think. S/he may determine later, through discernment, that her or his perspective was wrong, but discernment is a filter or set of filters (or perhaps the temporary removal of a filter or set of filters) that was not being applied in the first instance. So, s/he may apologize for a prior action on the grounds that s/he was under the influence of a limited perspective which s/he is now able to see through.

When we have the intent to see things through the other's perspective, we have temporarily expanded our own, limited perspective, at least, to the limited perspectives of two. As we exercise this ability regularly, we become more compassionate, and our perspective expands. We can more easily and quickly expand our perspective in any given situation, to incorporate the perspectives of ALL the players in a situation. When we are able to do so, we are closer to the perspective of the Creator, who sees things through ALL eyes, and we are more likely to reach a conclusion that serves ALL perspectives in a situation, versus our own selfish agenda. We will find, in the long run, that Life is more satisfying when ALL perspectives are taken into account, because ALL will be happier. We may think that we will be happier if we get our way all of the time, but this is an illusion. If we have all we want, but everyone around us suffers from deficiencies, we will be around a bunch of unhappy people, and it will affect us.

We may have enough to eat, but it bothers us when we hear about all of the starving people around the world. We may be free, but it bothers us to hear about children and others who are sold or kidnapped into forced labor. We may have health insurance, but it bothers us to hear about all the people that cannot afford needed care. Although our illusory filters may paint us as disconnected from other people by geography, we instinctively know that they are a part of us. We cannot be truly free until ALL of us are free. What affects any part affects the whole. There is no way around it. Expand your limited perspective, please, for the good of all.

Changing The World, One Perspective At A Time,
Alan