Walk a Mile in My Shoes

Cosmic Limitations

“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us.  Our task is to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures, and the whole of nature and its beauty.”

                                  Albert Einstein

         I’ve often wondered whether we get to cycle through this earth plane multiple times, each one as a different person in a different time and place.  Certainly that notion is supported by several religious traditions.  I especially have this thought when I sit before my TV and watch the women of Somalia, who have walked for days to a squalid refugee camp in hopes of finding food for their starving children.  I wonder it when I see fleeting glimpses of Afghan women in heavy, black garments showing only one eye, moving through rough and dangerous streets on their way to market, always escorted by men with rifles.  I also wonder about it when I see the way life seems to cycle, coming back to the same place repeatedly.  I am old enough to remember several cycles of recession, for instance; several cycles of years with severe weather patterns, and several cycles of war.  Is the motion of the galaxy we live in, the spiral-armed Milky Way, a clue to the movement of life?

         It is human nature to see things close up—to assume that our own opinion is the right one, that our ideas of how things should be are correct and righteous.  However, if we were to take the world view of, say, a sub-Saharan African child, would we see the world in a whole new light?  What if we were to look through the eyes of a Taliban fighter, or an Eskimo, or an Indonesian villager?  Can we step into the world view of another person, or another being, and see things as they see them?  What would happen if we were to walk in their shoes for a day, or a year, or a life-time?

         It’s possible that we would gain compassion and understanding.  Perhaps we would be more able to give ground and forgo our own notions of propriety.  Maybe we would be more inclined toward making peace and sharing wealth.  Think about it.

                                  In the spirit,

                                  Jane