In this post #BlogElul meets the timeless wisdom of The Grateful Dead.
“Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”
– Scarlet Begonias
We like to think of ourselves as enlightened. Sometimes we even bask in the sunlight of our own astuteness, blinded by insight and epiphany. There’s no doubt that we all have the capacity to access and share deep wisdom and light, but most of us have a good deal more darkness than we care to acknowledge. We look where we want to look, see what we want to see, and find evidence to confirm even our dimmest intuitions and theories. Is it more truthful to admit that there are times when we see clearly and times when we don’t see at all? What happens if we admit that we can’t always see the light?
The world is full of strange places. Strange places can evoke fear. We cross the street to avoid them or take the highway so that we don’t have to pass through them. Rather than averting our gaze and denying the strange places within and without we simply need to look at them right. Looking at things right means looking for the beauty, the light, the humanity, the need, and the potential that exists in even the strangest of places.
“Closed my eyes to see.”
– Attics of My Life
It’s important to remind ourselves that we see not only with our eyes, but with our hearts and minds. It’s important to remind ourselves that closing our eyes can help our hearts and minds see more clearly. Lots of people are afraid to close their eyes. It leaves us feeling vulnerable. And with our eyes closed we are vulnerable. Vulnerability helps our hearts and minds see more clearly once we realize that we’re all vulnerable all the time, even with our eyes wide open.