The View From The Mountain Top

The Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque stand 10,679 feet tall. You can ascend it by foot, or cable car. Each will provide you with a very different experience, and different views along the way. Your view, or shall we say, your perception of the world changes with every 1,000 feet you ascend. Someone at 4,000 feet would see the world around them very differently than someone at 2,000 feet. If they were to call each other and describe what they saw, there may seem to be a disconnect as many of the details do not match up. Yet neither are wrong. They just have different views of the world at this moment.

Those in the cable car have no choice but to go all the way to the top. Once there, they can linger for a while, and then choose to hike down, or take the cable car back down. Those hiking up have richer experiences, from their point of view. They can choose to go only part of the way up. They can take prolonged rests at any point along the way. Once at the top, they can hike back down, or take the cable car. You see, there are different ways each person can choose to experience the Sandia Mountain range, depending on their needs and desires in life.

You can choose to eat lunch or dinner at the restaurant at the base of the mountain. Or, perhaps you prefer the restaurant at the top of the mountain. Others may bring a picnic instead. So many choices, none are wrong. But if you inquire with others, they would say one choice was better than another. This would just be their opinion, their truth, not THE TRUTH. 

Once at the top of the mountain, you have your choice of views. Albuquerque spreads out before you to the west. But if you stand on the other side of the mountain and look to the north east, you can make out the lights of Santa Fe off in the distance. So if I were to tell you that the view from the top of the mountain was Albuquerque, you would not challenge me and say I was wrong, insisting that the view is Santa Fe. It would be an absurd argument, because both are true. Furthermore, just because I can see Santa Fe off in the distance, or read about it on the internet, it doesn't mean I know what it's like to be in Santa Fe. To truly understand the beauty that is Santa Fe, I must go there myself and experience it.

And such is life. Each of us with our different views and perspectives, based upon where we are currently standing, and our individual experiences up to that point. And yet, we are so eager to push each other off the mountain when we think someone is seeing the world "wrong".

Written by: Elizabeth DiPace means Peace
www.ElizabethDiPace.com