I wonder sometimes how much I miss. What goes unnoticed? Everyone sees the world in their own unique way and yet we all seem to believe that we are seeing it correctly. I make countless decisions every day, some are about what I am going to do or where I am going to go, but others are judgments. “This is right and that is wrong.” “That person is successful and that one is not.” How easily I wield this power to state the true nature of things. As I apply such a label to a person, thing or event, I might even congratulate myself for being more aware and perceptive than the average person.
Now all of this is based on the past. I have knowledge and memory
(sometimes). It is this knowledge from the past that tells me not to
put my hand into an open flame or walk in front of a moving bus. So,
certainly, we need this information to survive on a day-to-day basis.
Without it I would not know where I work or how to drive or that someone
was getting ready to punch me. So I probably do not want to get rid of
information that tells me how the world operates. I’m not sure I could
if I tried.
I wonder to myself if I might find a way to be less attached to some of
that information, some of those judgments. After all, if I get too
attached to the punch I know is coming, I might get tackled. I remind
myself that whenever I decide that something is one way, I am usually
prevented from seeing it in any other way. How often do I miss
opportunities to experience something as it really is, or for what
potential it might have, because I have placed a label on it? Am I
sometimes making judgments about things that do not serve me?
I was driving on a very busy urban street, getting ready to turn right at a light when the vehicle in front of me stopped suddenly to avoid a pedestrian. As our light turned red, the other driver completed his turn but my car was left in the middle of the crosswalk, a vehicle behind me preventing me from backing up. No big deal. A few moments later, a gentleman who was crossing the street in front of me was obviously quite upset with me because MY car was in the middle of HIS crosswalk. All of his language, vocal and body, spoke of his incredulity and disappointment in my so rudely and deliberately stop my car in the crosswalk. His frustration stayed manifest even as he completed his crossing, still eyeing me in a manner meant to assure me I would surely be condemned to eternal damnation for my inconsiderate behavior. Oddly enough, this did not concern or upset me. But, I suddenly realized that, with just a very brief snapshot, this man had arrived at conclusions he was absolutely sure of. He knew he was right. And the whole thing struck me in a way that was epiphanic. What if I can convince myself that I do not always need to come to conclusions – that I can leave some things alone without limiting them by trying to define them.
