JOY ALONG THE WAY: ENHANCE YOUR VISION BY SIMILES

One of the solitary pleasures for anyone, if he has the time, is to look at anything to see what it is like. To say that looking at a utility pole reminds you of a utility pole is not allowed in this pursuit. But to say that a utility pole looks like a Paul Bunyan penny pencil thrust upside down into the ground is to lift the vision out of the ordinary. Having seen the "upside down pencil" you might further see that wires stretching away from it at the top are lines the pencil has drawn, magical lines across which unseen messages can be sent.

In the world of writing we would call this heightened vision "living in the land of similes."

Have you ever seen a body of water ripple in the breeze like an old-fashioned washboard? No, not unless you've seen an old-fashioned washboard. Have you seen white islands in the sky whose edges are fraying in slow motion by waves of blue sky oceans? Everyone has seen white clouds in a blue sky, but not as islands being washed away unless you've trained your vision to new heights of wonderment.

I recently heard someone say, sorrowfully, that she had watched all her family die by death. Was it the stress of the moment that caused such a curious statement? The reluctance or inability to describe the manner of death? Such a statement in the category of vision would be classed as subnormal, not even ordinary vision.

Were it my privilege to rear or teach a child again, I would have long sessions of observing -- observing in detail. It is a wonderful way of comprehending and appreciating. Perhaps the child might eventually see a great connectedness in all things. If such a tutored child should say to me that the little green measuring worm moves along by little green horseshoe, I would be utterly delighted. If you've ever noticed, the measuring worm moves along by keeping its front feet still while his back feet move forward, thus causing the middle portion of its body to hump up in the middle in the shape of a horseshoe, then moving his front feet forward to make room for another similar push forward. Thus the horse, the horseshoe, the measuring worm and its feet are connected in the mind. Furthermore, if the timothy stalk the measuring worm is climbing bends under the worm's weight like a little green rainbow, the horse, horseshoe, worm, timothy stalk and rainbow are connected, etc.

Today I saw a squirrel climb to the top of a utility pole and sit there, motionless like some gargoyle. A flock of migrating geese flew over, appearing to be an irregular, big, black V, flapping and honking frantically to stay in the sky. Two walkers went by, their arms and legs working like piston rods to keep a locomotive going.

This spring I shall see honeysuckle blossoms scattered across green bushes like scraps of white and creamy colored lace. And there will be a tortoise moving slowly across the lawn like a brown rock being pushed along by ants. The rising sun will poke beams of light on the Park floor, like golden fingers seeking for the Johnny-jump-ups and wind lowers.

Sunshine, flowers, squirrels, measuring worms, horseshoes, rainbows, me -- we're all one, tenuously connected, which anyone with heightened vision can see as a universe of dancing atoms, manifesting themselves in different forms.

REJOICE!

~Jean Bell Mosley is an author and longtime columnist for the Southeast Missourian.