Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Seeing life from a higher vantage point is key. We are micro-focused on physicality, which includes character, body, actions, and story. In much the same way as you might get “too involved” in a movie, it’s easy to lose perspective. Which is what it feels like to “lose it.”
I’ve done the “ugly cry” at a movie. Lips trembling, sobbing, and snotting all over myself. But eventually, the house lights come up. And I go home. Beforehand, I would get caught up in the dramatic elements – the suffering, the deception, the plot twists, etc. The characters seemed real, but only if I let myself get lost in the drama.
Seeing life from a higher perspective allows you to be a character, but not so up close and personal that you “lose it.” You can watch your life more distantly, while maintaining intimacy. You can cry, get into it, get excited and anticipatory, and also be let down. But you don’t have to lose it. You can even get high enough to be in the projection booth. You may even get higher than that – what’s behind the projection booth!
Seen from the projection booth, life is cool. The camera pulls back, the scenes are exposed, the movie house is lit, and the projectionist sits in a bird’s nest. Seen from infinity – it’s magical. You get to travel through this telescoping awareness, from behind the projectionist, into the projection booth, into the audience, right into the screen, and into the director’s chair if you want. But you aren’t really calling the shots. It’s unfolding before you.
You can get as involved as much as you’d like, but you don’t call the shots. Most of life is a matter of perspective. Many of us are simply too up close and personal. Don’t lose your perspective. It’s just a movie.