If you put your head down an anthill, you’ll see thousands of ants scurrying around in what seems like chaos, but when you come to your senses and pull your head out, you’ll see that there is both direction and purpose. As far as I can tell, from browsing through some of the posts on social media platforms, a lot of people are bent on keeping their heads down, engrossed in the anthill, feeling exasperated and desperate, seemingly unaware that they can stand up and get another perspective this very instant.
With everything going on right now, or rather what “seems” to be going on right now, it’s understandable that a large number of people get stuck in the details of it all. But that’s not where you’ll find any relief or clarity. There’s a reason why we say – “don’t sweat the small stuff” – and that is because when you do, you waste a lot of energy on things that are of no consequence. The thing is – as long as you fixate on the details – there’s no way you will realize what is and what is not of consequence. Everything seems to be drawing you in, scaring you, making you feel upset, confused and powerless. You feel overwhelmed, and soon you can’t figure out what to focus on and what to let go of. This is usually the cause of a so called “burn out”.
Yes there are a lot of things wrong with the world today, but to focus on each dirty detail will not solve anything. In order to see what needs to be done you need to take a higher perspective, much higher. This time, it’s about the future of mankind, not about whether this political party or political leader is better or worse than the other. This time it’s about unity around human values like love, wisdom, generosity, balance, honesty and peace. Yes it’s big, HUGE actually, but unless you come to grips with the fact that our world is changing, for the better even if it appears kind of messy right now, you’ll be stuck in the abyss of desperation.
I’m not saying that all details are unimportant, I am saying however that it’s more important to be completely aware of what the details are and what the big picture is. It’s perfectly allright to focus on details as long as you know they are details. If you are so engrossed in the details you believe that your tiny perspective is all that needs to be known, I suggest you read Plato’s story about the men in the cave, and have a good think about whether you’d prefer to be one of the men who decide to stay chained and afraid, or if you would like to venture out into the sunshine.
A lot of things will come to the surface, in fact a lot of things have already come to the surface, and for many these things will come as a shock. In order to not be alarmed by any of them, or rather be grateful that they are now visible, you need to brace yourself and prepare to take in a lot of new information. To keep your mind open, is not the same as to believe everything you hear. It is just to embrace the idea that there’s a lot you still do not know and like a funnel, be prepared to allow some new things to get in, and then sive and sort what you feel is valuable.
A rigid mind will have to break in order to understand a brand new concept while an open mind, a flexible mind that is willing to look at, evaluate and chew new things over will just expand. It’s less painful to have an open mind.
This is just a friendly advice to pull your head out of the anthill, now and then, look for the new, things that challenge your beliefs, try them on, sit with a new idea for a while before you shove your head back into the familiar albeit chaotic and confusing anthill, this will be good practice for what is coming. You might even find that the view from above gives you a feeling that life is better, brighter and even more promising than you could ever have dreamt of.
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