Vantage Point


Small Eyes

We see with such small eyes, such limited vision.

Perspective, even if we gain more each year, is finite.

Though we may delve deeply into history and understand trends and patterns of human behavior, our vantage point still renders us mostly blind.

We simply cannot see beyond the horizons of our landscapes. 

And yet we live as if we had created the universe.


Stepping Back

When I step back, as far as I possibly can (which to me always implies there’s at least one more step I could take), I see the smallness of our thinking. I see how minute it all is in relation to all that exists. And I know this from a vantage point that is less than all there is. I cannot know beyond what I know, though I believe there is so much more. 

The theories and the theologies we quibble over are close to infinite. Every thought, it seems, can be picked apart, dissected, evaluated and judged ad infinitum and ad nauseam. It seems that we could spend eternity traveling through the mazes of thoughts and ideas. I think we believe there is a light at the end of one of these tunnels that will illuminate the entire picture - the elusive theory of everything - and when we find it, we will be satisfied and will rest. 

Inspired by Z. L. Feng

It will never happen. At least not in our present form of existence. There is no enlightenment coming to our temporal existence that will be eternally satisfying. We are thirsty and it is an unquenchable thirst. We cannot know, we can only speculate. So what do we do?


The way I see it is that we have two basic choices: we can either succumb to futility either by despairing in the meaninglessness of it all or by relishing in the pleasures of this temporary life, or we can surrender to faith, belief, hope and ultimately love. One road feels like acquiescing in defeat, and the other like surrender in deliberate choice. And it is all a choice really, but not without consequences. 


There is evidence that living a life of love is better for our health than living a life of despair, self-indulgence or even blind (or blissful) ignorance. Our brains function better when we believe there is a loving, beneficent god. This is something that has been tested and shown to be empirically true. Does it follow that it is true? Does it follow that if our bodies actually function at a higher capacity (if we have this value intact) mean that the belief is true? Maybe. Or it could be an evolutionary trick based on the need to belong to a community for safety? That mimetic theory is at the heart of our need and desire to have a higher power who sees us, cares for us, and loves us?


The end to the questioning is that we cannot know. We can only choose. And since choice is at the heart of being sentient, aware beings and ultimately at the heart of love, it makes some sense that we must have to choose. 


Inspired by Ron Lawson

But this still doesn’t satisfy. Stepping back once again and choosing to see a higher power who loves us and created us with the ability to think and to choose only reveals more choices, both ours and that of the creator. Why did He create us in such a way where choice was a needed element? Why is the nature of love based in choice? Is love a (or the) natural truth of the universe or is it a created thing? 


A simple answer is that we were created in His image (which is love), able to make choices, which demands there are choices to be made. 


I’m not trying to step into the theological debate over free will. I find no need to do that and very little interest. It feels like a theological mess or puzzle that is all part of our constructed system of belief that focuses on logic and tries to mingle it with love, when love doesn’t work that way. It feels to me like playing in two very different sandboxes but pretending they are one. Or something like that. And some may say that is exactly what I’m doing when I ask about choice, but I’m not bringing into the thought any moral piece of sin or evil or harm. I’m not looking at ideas of judgment or atonement, salvation or punishment. That’s a wholly different conversation in my mind. I’m looking at existence and my inability to step outside of it, stand far enough back, and make sense of it. I can’t. 


And so the feelings of despair and defeat enter in, which is why I find the need to conjure up a structure that makes some sense to me, gives me clear choices to make, and allows me to find a direction to walk and keep walking. 


I think in part it is why we long for the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to one truth, one idea. That we won’t be coerced into believing, that we won’t feel we are acquiescing in defeat, or even surrendering by choice, but that we will be overwhelmed by love; that our knees will be made weak with the purity of unashamed love, and joy from our created souls will explode from deep within each and every being. This is the hope of all mankind; of all creation. 


We see dimly now, I know. We don’t have the capacity to comprehend it all, I know. And there is futility in trying, yes, I know. There is a humbling in that which feels both sad and relieving. I choose to believe, and find a small sense of honor in being given the wherewithal to do so. I am grateful for glimpses of hope. I shall endeavor to be worthy of them and do my best not to starve them. The ultimate choice here is love, at least that’s all I can see. If love is not the central theme of all that exists, then I do not know what to hope in. 




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