How to See in Color

Two friends walk down a street together.

One sees people passing by in a blur,
only remembering the face of the one he is talking to.

The other remembers the smell of a bakery's sweet buns,
the pale Spring green of a young tree planted on a corner,
the blonde and pink streaked hair of a young girl
gliding by on roller skates,
a mother rocking her baby and talking to her.

What we pay attention to determines how we live.

There are times when intimate focus is needed,
when our whole concentration needs to be on
the one thing we are doing or feeling.
This may be another person, or it may be
an idea, prayer, or thought we wish to keep in mind.

There are other times when our attention needs to be
open and unfocused - moments when concentrated awareness
gets in the way of experiencing what is.

Divinity lies in both places, for both can be alive with the sacred.

When we can let the sensory impressions of life
come to us as a gift,
we receive the blessings of living in a body.
For this gift is not only about perceiving
the physical reality in which we live.
It is about perceiving what lies behind the physical -
the soul nature of all things and the Source from which they come.

We can walk down the street as a person
feeling only the measure of time and space we occupy,
or we can walk down the street as a soul
feeling the sweet spiritual air
of a sacred world unfolding.