When I Ponder & Wonder... about Perspective.

(Post written on August 20th somewhere above Greenland...) 

I'm sitting on a packed plane.

My flight takes forever: hours seem like weeks and minutes seem like hours... 

But then again: these past weeks were so busy and great, that they just flew by. And the past two years - I can't believe how quickly they swished away...

Being squished into this seat in a seam-bursting full plane is irritating. I seem to be uncomfortable in every possible position that I can come up with in this miniature of space that's designated to be mine for the next 14 hours... I am tired and can't sleep, exhausted but can't rest... 

My mind is on a rollercoaster: 

thinking about things I left behind, things I am going to find ahead; 

missing already everyone I am leaving behind 

and at the same time looking forward to everyone I am going to reunite with; 

my thought bursting with ideas, plans, things to do; 

hoping, dreaming, wishing, drifting away... 

... in my own little universe of thoughts... 

... just like each and every one of us on this packed plane... 

... just like each and every one of the tiny almost invisible people 

on the ground that I can barely see from my tiny window way up high in the air... 

Suddenly all my entangled thoughts are gone and I start wondering:

I wonder and ponder... about perspective. 

Looking out of my window - from up here - everything and everyone seems so small, almost invisble... 

Yet, each of them: a universe of their own: a complex, unique person with their own ideas, thoughts, hopes & dreams, expectations & disappointments, fears & worries... 

Each of them sees the world in a perfectly unique way... Through eyes of a soul that can not be imitated, reproduced or substituted in any way... 

Each of us such a tiny part of creation, almost too tiny to even mention in comparison with the mountains, seas and desserts... or even less compared to stars and planets... 

Yet: each of us a universe of our own... 

And the crown of creation. 

Why does God give us such importance? 

If God who is the fullness of eveything looks outside himself to our tiny nothingness...

Maybe I can look beyond my tiny universe of thoughts: 

a universe that to me seems everything: 

my biggest problem, my biggest joy, my biggest pain and my achievement... 

All this turns out to only be a tiny speck of what the universe that should concern me really is. 

My universe needs to go beyond my universe.

I need to be concerned with more than just whatever effects my single ego.

My universe needs to be more than just my universe.

I need to open up to who is around me... 

It needs to be more than that!

I need to go out of my universe to meet the others... 

It needs to be even more than that! 

My universe ARE the others!

I need to see with their eyes, feel with their hearts, percieve through their soul...

Only then do I really inhabitate what creation truly is: a dynamic of love.

Only then is my perspective a perspective of love and thus a perspective of truth. 

Suddenly my problems disappear: 

It doesn't matter if I have space in my seat, 

if I am comfy and snug,

doesn't matter what my tiny pain or tiny joy is... 

My perspective changes: 

my heart fills up with gratitude for God: God who is so much love and so purely love that he cares for even my silly insignificant problems... and through His love he teaches us what true perspective means...

I look outside my tiny window on the plane and see all those tiny people far far below on the ground... 

I say a prayer for them; put them into Gods hands: whatever their tiny little universe is going through right now: whether it's joy or pain, success or defeat, happiness or suffering... 

This way I can participate... 

This way they become my universe... 

This way, they are not alone: 

somebody is praying for them: 

doesn't matter wether they know it or not... 

When I Ponder & Wonder... about Solidarity

The other day my ♡ and I went to this awesome music-festival. We had a great time! There was one band in particular that we enjoyed a lot: Las Cafeteras. They were awesome! The rhythm, the voices, the animated atmosphere... it was so original and positive and entertaining in such an optimistic way! We truly enjoyed every second of their performance!! 

Between two songs one of the performers mentioned, that many of their friends and a big part of their community are hearing impaired, so he taught us how to 'clap' in American Sign Language (ASL). That was quite a moving moment after all the loud music and dancing and clapping there was this moment of silence and hand-waving that had a particular magic to it. 

Then later he also explained what this sign means and his explanation really touched me: 

"This is the sign for 'I love you'. 

I love you even though I don't know who you are. 

That's true solidarity! The solidarity that the world needs!" 

I was really touched by this tiny philosophical and/or spiritual 'insert' that almost seemed to go unnoticed... but it made me think for days...

And it made me WONDER: What is solidarity?!

I looked up the definition of solidarity in the dictionary - actually in a couple of dictionaries to be able to compare the definitions a bit... They all sound more or less the same:
"Solidarity is a unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on a community of interests, objectives, and standards."

Is solidarity purely a unity in regards to common interests? If solidarity is only that, than it's too reductive, superficial... too self-oriented. Then I can only express solidarity with someone I share MY interests, MY objectives, MY standards with...

Shouldn't solidarity be more?
Shouldn't solidarity be about 'putting myself in the shoes of the other' to understand them even though I might not share their specific interests, objectives and standards?

I seems to me, that only solidarity understood in this deeper way can bring us forward in our attempt to coexist in this world. Only solidarity conceived as this selfless love can truly make us understand each others positions, enable true dialogue and allow us to truly understand the other person (or groups) interest, objectives, standards in order to be able to create a common ground.
But this common ground will not be based on the particular interests of a certain group (that maybe other groups can't share) but it will be common ground of LOVE.
Love as a selfless openness to each other: I love you even though I don't know who you are. 

I love you, even though I don't know who you are.
I love you first; then I try to get to know you on the basis of this love.
Only that will allow me to get to know you without prejudice,
without trying to impose my interests and beliefs on you,
without trying to make you become who I want you to be,
without loosing interest in you even before I get to know you simply based on who I think you are...

I love you first. This gives me an enormous openness to you.
I love you so much that you can truly be who you are - unique and different from me...
I love you even though I don't understand you,
even though I might not share your views,
even though I might not agree with you,
even though I might ...
But out of love I accept you differentness.
And if you encounter me in this same attitude of love...
... then true solidarity is born:
true understanding,
true dialogue,
true compromise,
(and looking back to the dictionary definition):
true unity (that goes beyond but does not eliminate the differences)
that produces true community (now not based on common interests anymore but on love).

That is true solidarity!

I love you even though I don't know who you are.

How beautiful to find these pearls of wisdom in the midst of a crowded square filled with music and dancing on a lovely summer day... Thank you for that Las Cafeteras!