Hi there. I would like to tell you a cute story. I have got three adorable nieces. The youngest one is four.
Anyway, a few months ago we had a family meeting and so we all got together. In the afternoon, we walked up a little hill in a small city. Not very high. When we reached the top and looked down upon the city, my four-year old niece said, „Wow, now we can see the whole world!“ We all just thought, oh my God, you are so cute. Then we asked her, can you see your parent’s house? She looked around and said, no. Then we asked, can you see your grandparent’s house? No. Can you see Gloria’s house? No. So then it started to dawn upon her that maybe it was not the whole world after all.
Anyway, that evening when I sat down to meditate and process my day, I thought again about what she said, and then I thought, isn’t that how we all see the world? I am reminded of what Arthur Schopenhauer said. He said, „Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.“ Isn’t that true? We all live in our little world and we think that’s all. I went hiking with some friends the other day, and we literally talked about God and the world. And we talked about how funny it is that our organs of perception can’t even register what animals see and hear, and yet we think we know it all. And yet so-called experts with all kinds of university degrees look out into space, look at the sun, look at the stars, and seriously think that there is no life out there – just because we can’t register it with our organs of perception. And those who actually are able to intuitively or maybe telepathically register higher life are looked at as weirdoes.
I mean, it really is true, is it not? Every man and woman takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. And many people’s field of vision does not even go beyond their little problems or little lives.
Do you want to know what the last thing is I do at night before walking upstairs to my bedroom, and what the first thing is I do in the morning when walking downstairs? I go outside into my garden and I watch the sky. Sure, sometimes it is raining, sometimes there are clouds up there, but often there are gorgeous starry nights. Oh, I love those nights. I live out in the country, at the foot of a mountain, so there are no city lights there. So the stars look so close and so huge and they sparkle so beautifully. And then I always start wondering what’s going on up there in all these stars and planets and galaxies and all that’s out there. I have been doing that for years, and for me it has become a Spiritual practice. It helps me to keep life in perspective.
Many people have a bad day when they have got a pimple on their face. I mean, when you look up there in the sky and watch the stars or this fire ball which we call sun, then you realize how unimportant it is whether you have a pimple on your face or not, whether your neighbor likes you or not, or whether you have the latest computer or not.
