Family Discussions

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Do you ever look at clouds on a summer day and see various types of shapes, such as animals, people, or other things? As a child, I used to relax during summer afternoons after swimming awhile and look at the clouds as they transformed into different shapes, leading my mind into a multitude of imaginative places. Amazingly, I once saw a complete eagle in the clouds, even down to the talons! Over the years, I have noticed that I often look for things I know- animals or people or fictitious creatures. But on occasion I see something entirely alien to my memories, some fantastic shape like a dinosaur swimming, or a dog with a pig snout, or some such creature. I tend to look for those shapes that make no sense to me now as well as the familiar ones.

How does cloud watching relate to our way of seeing people? We get used to being with people we know and take for granted we know what to expect from them. When they do something completely different from what we expect to seem we are taken aback. Did we really not know this person at all?

What would happen if we ceased to look at people from preconceived viewpoints? What would we think? How would we act around them? Would we be more open to actually hearing them, to actually seeing who they are and for what they stand and believe? Would that make us more willing to listen to others with a desire to understand them? Look at the clouds on a hot summer Oklahoma day when the breeze is blowing the clouds around and consider letting the shapes direct your mind, rather than your mind directing the shapes you want to see.

Discussions: All of the above questions.