As we march forward through life, we have a tendency to narrow our field of vision. We focus only on the things that directly affect the life we are trying to build, and all too often neglect what can be described as “the larger picture.” In doing so, we start to see the world in one way, defining our view of life in terms of absolutes. We make the mistake of thinking that the world can only be the way it is because that is what is directly in front of us. But there are no absolutes, and each of us view the world differently, and rightly so, because we are all walking through this life individually. 

There’s an old parable about the definition of life, where a group of disciples approach the Buddha with some questions about what life is. He replied, “Once there was a king who assembled all the blind men in his kingdom in a courtyard. In the center was an elephant. One at a time, each of the blind men were led forward to place their hands on the elephant’s body. One man touched the head, another the trunk, another the ears, tusks, body, tail and so on. After they were done, the king asked each of them, ‘what is an elephant?’ With absolute certainty, they each described the elephant according to what they touched. The man who touched the trunk, said an elephant was like a snake. The man who touched the tusk, said an elephant was a spear. The man who touched the tail said the elephant was a brush.” They were all correct in their definition of what an elephant is based on the input they were provided, yet with sight they would be able to see that the small piece they encountered was simply part of something much larger. 

We’re all going through life, certain of what it is and at the same time oblivious to what it could be. Tightly locked into our own field of view, we can’t see possibilities that lay outside of our periphery. So what do you see? If it isn’t serving you, then it’s holding you back.