In the depth of engagement with work, challenges, struggles, and even in the close-up craft of enjoyable tasks, there is a tendency to lose perspective.
There is guidance and wisdom in understanding how the system of sight processes the environment for accurate and true discernment of just what is going on. Specifically, the wonder of having two eyes, separated by some distance makes for a useful guide to better perception.
When photons pass through the cornea (a transparent window), are focused by an adaptive lens (able to capture light near and far), then travel to the retina, a further adaptation is brought to bear. The neuronal fibers activated by those photons transmit electrical pulses from the retina to the back of the brain, the occipital lobe, where those pulses are interpreted. The brain recognizes the signals as letters on a screen, as the shape of a strawberry, as the tone, texture, hues, and lines of a recognized face. In addition, portions of the optic nerve from each eyeball are shared across the brain to the paired occipital lobe on the opposite side of the brain. The brain interprets two signals related to the same object. This comparison is what allows the brain to determine whether an object is in motion towards or away from the viewer. The shared information adds peripheral vision to the repertoire of sight. To ignore signals from one of the eyes is to be visually impaired, to suffer a distorted sense of reality (deception, unaware bias, missed cues).
Yielding to new or even conflicting signals is the best way to see accurately, to pick up signs that something is changing, maybe an incoming threat or a welcomed, familiar face against a sea of strangers.
Be assertive to gain new input today. Be humble in how tightly an attitude is held, or how a closed off, long-held conclusion of old data may impair sensing and understanding a new reality. As much as we say “we’ll get through this (pandemic) together”, it’s clear that irrespective of the crisis du jour, we really, deeply, and critically need one another every day.
