A Prayerful POV Changes Everything
It depends on your point of view.
Imagine a couple is arguing in their living room, in front of a big window. In this situation, if both of them are yelling, neither one is really listening to the other. After the argument is over and they’ve cooled down, when they go over the issue later in a rational, calm environment, they’ll soon discover that what one person remembers about what was said is not the same as what the other person remembers.
They’ll have to decide that neither one of them is right or wrong. To make peace, they’ll have to come to a compromise. As the poet Rumi wrote, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing / there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
Depending upon who and what and where we are, every individual life experience is singular. Each person’s viewpoint is unique. We may highlight different parts of what happens as significant, ignore other factors, and even distort some points.
So, for example, when something like this scene happens, there can be many different stories about it:
- A sad person may recall tears and disappointment.
- An angry person may recall self-justification and resentment.
- A young child listening from upstairs may not understand the adults’ words, and feel…
