“Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope – a slight change and all patterns alter.” (Sharon Salzberg) Kaleidoscopes can cost from 69 cents up to $12,000 for the best. Have you used one? Salzberg teaches meditation, and I believe she uses a changing kaleidoscope, along with soothing music, to help people change their outlook on life. Life can be beautiful, depending on how we look at it. Are there pattern changes in your life that have turned out to be beautiful? ;-) Jack
FROM ER IN SKO: Like a kaleidoscope, it is intriguing to me how the same quote can have multiple meanings and life applications to the same person depending upon where they are at in their life. This message has a totally different meaning to me today than it would have a mere 8 months ago. Thank you for making me think at 5am nearly every morning. ;-)===JACK: Thanks for seeing that today's WWs are not about Kaleidoscopes, but are about life.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: As Dr. Drew Weston (2006) notes in a psychology text, “We all spin the ‘cognitive kaleidoscope’ until the pieces fall into the pattern they want to see, and then the brain repays them by activating circuits involved in pleasure. It seems that the feeling of cognitive dissonance can literally make your brain hurt!” We all do this at some level when we learn information we don’t appreciate to make ourselves more comfortable. Sometimes we “spin the cognitive kaleidoscope” until we are satisfied with the new information, or it is distorted or blocked from our perception. The beautiful change in my life has been learning to recognize this phenomenon and have the ability to hold an opposing view alongside my existing belief and rationally discuss. Yes, it takes more work than tribalism, groupthink, and spouting prechewed thoughts. With proper application, the dissonance subsides; the picture is clear. ===JACK: Thanks for the mind-bending response. I like that. Yes, we do tend to focus on the picture we like...and there's always another picture, when you look at life using something like a kaleidoscope.===JON: Thanks, the more education you can absorb assuming you not wearing blinders the more meaningful life is. A scientific approach requires an open view, few things in life are certain.
FROM GUSTIE: Keith, Carol, and I had our picture taken through a Kaleidoscope. Kind of fun to try to find us. ===JACK: I've never heard of being able to do that. I'm not surprised, because we often show ourselves in different ways to different people.
FROM ST PAUL: remember too that most good K-scopes are made from broken glass and yet they produce something of real beauty. there must be a lesson there too. ===JACK: We pastors are always looking for things and situations to illustrate a point.
FROM NORM'S BLOG: Well, the Coronas Virus has certainly set the kaleidoscopes of our lives spinning. Let’s be honest, nothing in our lives has been the same since this pandemic started and each day brings new news that spins the kaleidoscope again and changes all of the patterns of our lives again.
Some change in life is probably good. Those changes keep life
interesting; however, the Corona Virus is not just some change it is almost
total change. The changes have come so fast and been so pervasive and
persistent that it has resulted in many of us having a hard time keeping some
point of reference for stability purposes. It has left us with little
from the past to hold onto. It is as if we had been snatched from our old world
and plunked down on some new planet where we didn’t recognize anything and were
all of the rules were different. In addition, we don’t recognize many of the
other inhabitants of this new world, because they are wearing masks. Even my
phone doesn’t recognize me when I wear my mask. In this disconcerting environment it is all the more important
to hold onto the one thing that has not and cannot be affected by this virus –
our faith.===JACK: "Believers" know who it is that operates the kaleidoscope. Sometimes He even lets us take a turn at operating it.
FROM WILLMAR REV: A work in progress, like fine wine they tell me, as I am an abstainer (of the fine wine, that is). 0;-)===JACK: They story is told of a church lady (an abstainer like you) who was asked, "Don't you know that Jesus used wine at the Last Supper?" She replied, "Yes, I've heard that, and that's one thing I don't like about him."
FROM BB IN CHGO: T gave me several over our years together and I treasure them still. Both of my children would get very relaxed looking at the patterns before bedtime. They were a Godsend!===JACK: I can picture it now...so relaxing. Life has its pleasures.===BB: Thank you for the calming thoughts. I will take them to heart.
FROM WILLMAR REV: A work in progress, like fine wine they tell me, as I am an abstainer (of the fine wine, that is). 0;-)===JACK: They story is told of a church lady (an abstainer like you) who was asked, "Don't you know that Jesus used wine at the Last Supper?" She replied, "Yes, I've heard that, and that's one thing I don't like about him."
FROM BB IN CHGO: T gave me several over our years together and I treasure them still. Both of my children would get very relaxed looking at the patterns before bedtime. They were a Godsend!===JACK: I can picture it now...so relaxing. Life has its pleasures.===BB: Thank you for the calming thoughts. I will take them to heart.
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