The thing about perspective is that the slightest shift can lead to the most drastic change.
A pregnant wildebeest unable to run as fast as usual may fear for both her life and her child’s, but the hungry lion’s only concern would be his empty stomach. A woman with high hopes and fantasies of marriage may be completely ecstatic about romance, but the man working as a lawyer with divorce cases would shake his head and disagree with slight pity. An overjoyed student mayhappilyshare about his recently aced test, but the one next to him who did not get a wink of sleep the night before to cram for a paper would probably find him irritating. A singer who practiced many months before a performance and was extremely nervous may miss a note or two from stage fright, but the audience watching from television screens across the globe would comment on her lack of talent. A weak, starving and homeless child may knock on the windows of cars to beg for money or food, but the driver’s thoughts would comprise only the fact that he was late for work, and ignore him.
And Icarus, fell right from the sky with his melted wings of wax may drown in both the water and his thirst for freedom, but the rest of the world would simply carry on as usual. Perspective steers thinking and I wonder about the heights one can reach the moment he attempts to consciously shift his perspective away from its center—himself.As humans, our thoughts are based on how we see things, how we hear, smell, taste, feel; and it is when we push out this centered thinking that we are able to achieve a higher level of consciousness.
Back when we knew little about the world we lived in, people shifted their perspective and struggled to see everything from a higher point of view. This later turned into an art, as maps continuously evolved and people continuously explored the lands in an attempt to draw it all out on paper. It makes me wonder how vast the world must have looked when there was no science to explain it, to be able to ignite a thirst for knowledge that pushed people to see more, to learn more, to create maps that could only vaguely portray their struggle to shape lands that seemed endless.
However, it is in this journey of a shifting perspective that we learn there is a limit to just how far and how high we can see things. Marcel’s take on truth struck me because no matter how hard we search and attempt to climb up for a bird’s eye view, there is one perspective that we cannot attain, and that is God’s. We can never truly know all there is to know, to see as God sees and perhaps this veiled mystery is what keeps people thirsty.
It is through the shifting perspective, just as an artist would look at his model in many different angles before painting or sculpting its replica, that we bring our center out, learn and struggle to learn more by climbing the ladder to a bird’s eye view—a ladder with a top we can never reach but with an ascending journey that inevitably makes us see the world differently.
I like your description of a continual shifting perspective. Perhaps, when our individual perspectives no longer shift to lead to a drastic change, then humanity may have achieved harmony and the broken world is fixed.
ReplyDeleteI believe it's always important that we teach ourselves to be humble. By saying that we can never attain everything that it is to know and that God can only know everything, you highlighted that we are finite beings. You also mentioned that we are climbing to the top of the ladder that we will never reach. I guess this is another way of looking at philosophy, as a taking on a journey to become more, but still keeping in mind that we a finite. By being finite this shows that we are not perfect. We do not know all the truths. We need to be in communication with others through out our journey to that lighted place. - Fern Tensuan (C)
ReplyDelete"And Icarus, fell right from the sky with his melted wings of wax may drown in both the water and his thirst for freedom, but the rest of the world would simply carry on as usual." I like this summary of Icarus' story, which says that he drowned in both the water and his thirst for freedom. It's good irony, especially when tied with the second use of the word "thirst" in this blog post, which goes, "We can never truly know all there is to know, to see as God sees and perhaps this veiled mystery is what keeps people thirsty."
ReplyDeleteIt's the constant lack, not being there yet, that is what pushes people to know more. We can never know everything about something or even someone, and this is what enables us to constantly learn more. Of course, wanting to know more about something/someone knowing full well that one can never know everything about something/someone sounds pointless, but it is a desire motivated by love, which is never sated.
- Veronica Jereza (C)
I agree with what you said that a slight shift in perspective can change a lot. Your second paragraph gave different perspectives which shows how people really have different objectives. People are two focused with what they want that they tend to forget about others. That's why we have this broken world and the truth to fix it. By knowing more about other people, and understanding them through a dialogue or a conversation, we may fix this broken world.
ReplyDeleteDiane Cheng (C)
"It is through the shifting perspective, just as an artist would look at his model in many different angles before painting or sculpting its replica, that we bring our center out, learn and struggle to learn more by climbing the ladder to a bird’s eye view—a ladder with a top we can never reach but with an ascending journey that inevitably makes us see the world differently."
ReplyDeleteYour statement of the shifts in our perspective really says a lot, because we are all very different in thought, hence, we can never say that we can reach that certain bird's eye view. However, it is through trying to reach that view, trying to comprehend it, that we can become more aware of the things around us, more aware that there is this certain more-ness to understand.
Trixia Tan (C)
"As humans, our thoughts are based on how we see things, how we hear, smell, taste, feel; and it is when we push out this centered thinking that we are able to achieve a higher level of consciousness."
ReplyDeleteThat's why as humans, how we fulfill and see the whole depends on how how we occupy certain perspectives, how we dance into and out of different worlds but still remain grounded on our own personal experiences. Human, just like Icarus, are limited and cannot really view all under him in his own perspective. what philosophy teaches us instead is to accept remain humble and enrich our lives by experiences and gaining more perspectives in life.
Mar Tan (C)