Random Thought #93

Have you ever heard the expression that you needed to "take a step in my shoes"? Of course you have. It refers to seeing things from a different perspective. I think we sometimes tend to view the world only through our eyes. We don't know what its like for a blind person, deaf person, or an animal or a plant, or an insect. Imagine if you were a snake. Nobody likes you, everyone tries to kill you, and you can't even walk or grab anything and you have to smell everything with your tongue. I may be taking this a bit far but the point I'm trying to make is that we often think in absolutes and that absolute is our perspective (which in itself is ironic since each of us has a unique perspective) If you read Abraham or Moses' accounts in the Pearl of Great Price, you always hear Christ or an angel telling them that there are multiple perspectives. When speaking to Moses, the Lord is showing Moses everything that has happened and everything that will happen, and the heavens, etc. and Moses asks for more. The Lord tells him to be content with this world and its dealings but more is implied just by the nature of Moses' question and the Lord's response. Obviously there are multiple perspectives to the "universe" or whatever superficial boundary we want to put around Heavenly Father's creations. When teaching Abraham, the Lord keeps saying that (I'm paraphrasing) "these things are shown to you from the perspective of the globe upon which thou standest". Everything that was being shown to him was from the perspective of Earth vs some other place. I think this principle also applies when trying to understand God's creations. In the book I'm reading, entitled Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring, he being a chemist, talks about "living among the molecules" to best understand his work. He is looking and trying to understand his work as if he were a molecule or from a molecule's perspective. He tells a good story about a lost race horse that illustrates this point. "The lost horse was sought for all day by the entire town, unsuccessfully. On the second day the village fool went out and in an hour returned with the horse. In response to inquiry as to his procedure, he explained that the first day he sat and thought what he would do were he a horse. On the second day he went to the point where he himself would have gone. The horse was there." This brief story also illustrates the need for patience, careful consideration and study, and not to react immediately.