A View From My Window: Are We Watching Life or Living It?

What a Wonderful World We Live In.

Each of us views the world from a unique vantage point.  Our perspective is an amalgam of our genes, experience, current emotional state, and, perhaps, that little spark of something that is as unique as our fingerprint – that internal, unchanging character that is ours alone.

That little spark is the one who experiences the world around us through our senses.  It delights in the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the feel of the physical world and loves the adventure of living here and now.

The body is part of this physical world.  It is part of nature.  It shares the life processes and cycles of plants and animals.  We nourish each other and live together in a wonderful design.

So how does that fit with the virtual world where part of our sensory equipment is not included?  We can virtually experience whatever we wish – other countries, other times, even relationships!  So who is left out?

Perhaps it is the part of us that needs to be there.

I can watch someone walking through a Lighthouse Park in Vancouver  and enjoy the sunlight falling through the branches. I can hear the birds and learn the names of trees I have never seen. What a wonderful window into somewhere beyond my own doorstep. But my feet have not felt the uneven ground, my cheeks have not met the damp air, and I have not breathed in that particular mixture of damp earth, leaves and growing things. I have visited with my eyes and ears, while much of me has stayed at home.

There is a difference between watching someone bake bread and standing in a kitchen where a loaf is coming out of the oven. The picture may be beautiful, but the smell, the warmth, and that first bite belong to another kind of knowing. Our senses bring us into contact with life, each adding something the others cannot supply.

The virtual world has given us extraordinary opportunities. We can explore the Yukon without buying a plane ticket, learn from people we may never meet, and see the face of someone we love who lives far away. The affection in a video call is real. So is the pleasure of discovering something new. Yet we can treasure that connection and still long to cook together, sit at the same table, share a meal and a hug.

Where do our other two senses fit?

What I call our sixth sense is that quiet inner knowing: the nudge that asks us to pay attention, the feeling that something deserves a closer look. It invites us to be still for a moment, focus inward and upwards.  Sense the energies that swirl unseen but very much there and know their message.

Then common sense brings its wonderfully practical contribution. Have I been sitting too long? Am I enjoying this, or simply continuing to scroll? Would I feel better if I stepped outside, made something with my hands, or called the person I have been thinking about?

Perhaps the question is how much of ourselves we invite into each day. We can spend an hour looking at other people’s gardens, then step outside and discover what our own garden has to say.

That little spark we began with has a body through which to explore the world. What might we discover this week if we gave all seven senses a little more room to join in?