Perspective

What you see is hardly real.

I looked up, not really knowing where the voice came from. Since classes had been over for many hours now, my friends had long since left my side, and I was sitting by myself, musing. My first thoughts turned to the Matrix and I chuckled at the idea that everything I saw was purely a figment of my imagination. I knew that wasn’t true.

Look deeper.

“What do you mean?” I asked nobody in particular. “Wouldn’t it be better said look closer?”

Look deeper.

So I did. The sun faded slightly, and all the buildings became semi-transparent; the whole world looked as though I were squinting at it, but the people I could see perfectly clearly. Suddenly, a thin, stick-figure of a computer nerd changed into a great giant, solid and unmovable. The faded books that he always had with him grew and solidified into an enormous mace- his weapon. 
The president of the student body, a charismatic, fit fellow suddenly morphed into a weak little man, hardly able to drag himself along. I saw myself, a “bright” engineering student as a fat slob, laid back with an enormous stomach to top off my bedraggled, unshaven face.

This is the realm of the mind. Greatness here is not defined by the physical.

And it was true. The professors had all grown somewhat, but there were students greater than they were. Many people that I thought were great suddenly became insignificant, but even more that I had counted unworthy of my attention were suddenly dominating the campus.

It was slightly unnerving.

Look deeper.

“Deeper?” I asked. “Why? I don’t like it the way it is now. You’ve thrown everything out of perspective.”

Your perspective was wrong. It still is.

I looked down at my enormous beer-belly of a mind and thought to myself “Surely it can’t get any worse.”

And I looked deeper.

What little sunshine there was instantly disappeared, and I was immediately surrounded by darkness. But what I couldn’t see was made up for with my other senses. The stench that hit my nose reeked of dead and dying people. My ears were suddenly filled with moanings, screamings, and calls for help. The air was cold, and all my mental blubber couldn’t keep me warm.

“Take me out of here!” I cried. “Get me out of here!”

This too is reality. This is true. This is the correct perspective.

I was scared. The giant of the computer nerd was now lying on his back, panting for all he was worth as though some insurmountable load was crushing his chest. The student body president was writhing, as though some great pain was searing through his body. Professors that never needed any help were whimpering, looking around desperately for some help to come. And these were doing better than most. Most bodies lay scattered across the grounds, not moving at all. The world was hopeless. How would I survive? How was I surviving? What was between me and this agony that I saw everybody else in?

Then for the first time I realized that even though the air was cold, I was warm. Even though darkness engulfed me, I could see. Why?

That’s when I first saw the light. It was coming from me, and yet I knew it wasn’t mine. Then I saw other lights throughout the campus – some strong, some weak, and some flickering, threatening to go out. As I watched, time flew by. Sometimes the lights would come together, but instead of staying together in each other’s’ mutual warmth, then would then scatter and tend to those calling for help. They could never stay away from each other too long, and eventually all the light-bearers would return to each other to be warmed and encouraged.

I took the hint and ran to the fellow nearest me. He looked up as I approached, and his eyes filled with wonder as I stopped and knelt down to him. I didn’t exactly know what he needed, but I knew I had what he needed for help, and I had to give it to him.

Then suddenly, everything changed back to “normal” and I found myself, clean-shaven and well groomed once again, face to face having a conversation with “caveman”, an annoying, smart-alecky, sassy, messy engineering student.

“Pooh,” I thought. “I’m leaving this conversation as fast as I possibly can. Why should I waste my time talking with him?”