Clarity of Vision

Seeing more clearly thanks to the white-out of a blizzard.

There was a blizzard here today.

We were blessed by basically maintaining electricity, which means having heat. Without the electricity that runs from the thermostat to the boiler and turns on the boiler (or something like that) this house loses its heating system.

Of course, I and the dogs are basically stuck inside and house bound, although they are braver than I and venture out onto the patio to look around and do their thing. Its times like these I really appreciate indoor plumbing!

Anyway, for the first time, today experienced what is called, white-out. Not the kind that comes in a little bottle to fix typos's. White–out is a condition that occurs in a blizzard when one cannot see where one is going. Visibility is nil -- everything is white.

I'd heard tales of farmers who had gone out to their barns to feed the animals and had become “lost” in a white-out and froze to death just a few yards from the safety and warmth of their homes. I've been “in” blizzards before from the relative safety of a home, but certainly seen the snow and wind gusts and shoveled it up the next day.

Today I saw the actual condition and from my window, I could not see two feet before me. I'm not even sure that if I was standing outside and I extended my hand, I would have been able to see it – and it was daytime. Everything was just white!

The white-out happened when we were experiencing heavy snow and wind. It didn't last long as the wind was coming in gusts, but there was no visibility. I couldn't see the backyard or even the nearby patio that I've known for most of my life. Yet I was sure it was there. I understood how farmers froze to death in white-out blizzard conditions, especially at night, just a few feet from their homes and safety.

Then the wind gust ended and I saw what I knew was there to see. There were a few more white-outs, which I saw while safe and secure indoors. It made me think about how we see. Clarity of vision (and metaphors apply) need light, preferably clear light but also conditions that do not obscure reality, such as fog, rain and white-outs. Denial, magical thinking, drugs, alchohol abuse, etc. are personally inflicted blizzards that White-out the vitality and meaning of life.

Spiritually and psychologically we can experience fog, rain and white-outs. These can be dangerous conditions, which at he very least make life uncomfortable and confusing.

Disbelief seems to be not so much lack of belief or faith as misplaced belief in something else. A person can have disbelief about what most of us agree is reality. For instance, a person with a phobia believes in underlying ideas and “truths” that help create the phobia than they emotionally believe in the understanding or knowledge that saner, healthier people hold. Agoraphobics and claustrophobics can be quite intelligent and reasonable people until they have to act in a way that is contrary to their wrong or misguided but strongly held emotional phobic beliefs.

The job of clergy, philosophers, psychologists/psychiatrists and artists is to help us see a truer reality, or at least see ourselves and our world with a more accurate perspective, with more light and less to obscure our vision.

February 17, 2006