“The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new vistas but in having new eyes.” Proust
Perhaps having a new vision requires seeing with new eyes. I was photographing our little pond yesterday and came upon a spider that had built a web across the water. My eyes were attempting to capture the spider and the web, but the lens caught something else entirely. Then I used my artistic eyes to create the over-saturated colors. The result is something far different than I could have imagined. How can I extend this openness and creativity to ordinary life?
Vast vistas are seen from the eyes of the soaring vultures. Perhaps they show up to teach me how to expand my awareness and creativity. My view has expanded considerably since the vultures first appeared almost a decade ago, but I feel the impulse to continue expanding, even as the universe is expanding.
Yet there are parts of me that resist. I get some understanding and become comfortable. I feel safe and maybe even important in that understanding. I become attached to it. I am connected to others who have the same understanding and who sometimes encourage me to stay in that understanding. I’m tempted to stay, but pain or impulse always compel me to expand further.
Expanding is rarely comfortable, though it can be exciting; more often it is quite chaotic and loss is involved. There is an art to riding the chaos of expansion. It takes willingness, courage, and flexibility–skills that serve us well.
Continually seeing with new eyes may be the most important skill of all.
