Vision

As I took this picture I remember thinking, "It's pretty, but the picture does it absolutely no justice." The rims that you see are lime deposits which make the pools and cascades. You can see that some of the lime deposits have plants growing on them. Do you see the brilliant red flowers growing on those plants? Probably not, they are too far away and the camera didn't capture them. I figured that would be the case when I took the picture. Do you see the red rock in the upper right hand corner of the picture? Noticing that and the fact that the picture is taken in the shade you may be able to guess that this pretty little place is surrounded by red cliffs that are hundreds of feet tall. At certain points you can see beyond the confining red cliffs and see more cliffs, some red, and some white that extend more than a thousand feet above where I stood to take this picture. The fact that this picture was taken in the shade makes the colors far less brilliant than they were in real life. While a picture is worth a thousand words, it limits our vision that is experienced in reality.

My last post was on being offered a plastic bag and Gewilli commented that plastic bags can be recycled and paper takes a considerable amount of petroleum to produce. She's right, and that is why I chose to use my backpack that I won in a bike race 15 years ago. (Trek makes a good backpack). She (I don't know why I'm assuming Gewilli is a girl, but I will continue with that assumption) also suggested that I find an electronic source rather than the books... Well, I tried, but as a doctoral student I needed all the info possible and only one of the sources I needed was available online (and I will use it online without printing it). See, I didn't give the whole picture because that wasn't the point of my story. I agreed with everything that Gewilli had to say about bags, except that plastic is recyclable. Yes plastic is recyclable, but reuse is better and not using the plastic (or paper) bag is really the best. Just because something is recyclable doesn't mean that it doesn't impact the environment. I would guess that Gewilli agrees with me that reusing canvas bags is really the best solution, but that wasn't the point she was making so she limited her vision. I think we often limit our vision to reflect the point we are trying to make.

I recently wrote that I liked it when people called me "sans" because I do without and am proud to do without. An anonymous response indicated that I should call myself the French word for more (davantage). I agree completely with what he said (I don't know why I think he was a male, but we'll go with that). I really don't feel like I'm missing anything by going without a lot of the things others have. In fact I believe that I have a lot more in my life (immaterial things that are far more important than stuff) than I would if I allowed stuff to accumulate in my home. I agree completely with Mr. Anonymous, but I haven't figured out how to rename myself using "davantage". I don't want to have more stuff, I want to do without. It's just a matter of how you look at it. I think I have to refer to myself as Sans because that is my distinguishing characteristic. I will always profess how much going without brings me, but I haven't found a way to include it in what I call myself.

Having less brings more to my life, that is my vision. We strive to get rid of stuff. Not only do we not want stuff, we have a sincere desire NOT to have it. I don't think people understand my family because of that. Everyone wants more, it's America's vision... It is completely contrary to our vision. We find far more value in life without the stuff. Our vision is based on our experience.

The media portrays its vision. It is not the "truth", it is a view of the world. It is the view that sells. Corporations portray their vision. It's not truth, it is what will make the company money. Al Gore portrays his vision. It's not truth, it is what will help him (or his party) get elected. There is a truth. There is one and only one truth, but it is blurred by the multiple visions that people try to force on us. I appreciate it when people comment and leave their views. Maybe you will change my view. Maybe not. But hiding your view may be hiding the truth. I blog to let my perception of the truth be known.