Do you ever watch the clouds floating past in the sky? Can you make its shape into a face or a rhinoceros? Perhaps we all see different things. This Charlie Brown quote about cloud watching makes me smile.
“Aren’t the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton… I could just lie here all day, and watch them drift by… If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud formations… What do you think you see, Linus?”
“Well, those clouds up there look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean… That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor… And that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen… I can see the apostle Paul standing there to one side…”
“Uh huh… That’s very good… What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?”
“Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie, but I changed my mind!”
– Charles M. Schulz
This makes the point that we all have our own viewpoint and can see the same object, situation or person or cloud from very different ways. In general terms it’s like the pessimist seeing the glass half empty and the optimist seeing it half full. I ‘m aware that I can also fluctuate as to how I view a situation – it is often guided by my attitude, be it hopeful, despairing or even ambivalent …….
To be aware of my inherent tendency to be limited by what is my inner intent or motivation is a real strength as it may open up an opportunity to look at things differently. Often I have been sucked into how things appear on the surface not realising that there was a different reality hidden within.
For example, fears of what might happen in the future may eschew how we judge a situation. I then have a very negative view – the fears have ‘clouded’ my perception and it all seems rather black and threatening. Is this real or is it just illusory and may never happen.
But sometimes I do receive insight which transforms my attitude. And then life seems full of possibilities, I understand more, see with greater clarity. Always there is more to learn, a deeper perception to grasp.
This following quote helps me to know this: –
If we look at the world with our outer sight alone, which is from a materialistic viewpoint, only the superficial, material world will be seen. Focusing on this level alone closes the inner or spiritual sight. How can we look up if we are looking down? How can we look within if we are looking without? But when we shift our focus to what is spiritual, searching for the ultimate truth behind the veils of the way things appear, we find true understanding of life on all levels.
Way of Wisdom; Emanuel Swedenborg
Happy cloud watching – may the light shine through ……
nurturing - soul 
I am IN LOVE with the charlie brown quote. I am actually going to print it out and keep in on my bulletin board of enlightening quotes and cut outs, etc. This is a wonderful post on a wonderful topic. There is nothing that I enjoy more than laying in the summer grass and watching the clouds morph from one picture to another, one figment of imagination into the next! It is very true that your vision can be changed by the perception of your attitude. Just think about when you are in the dark in a room, if you are alone or afraid your mind may create scary shadows, but if you are safe and familiar you may see happier images (even in the dark!) Pretty interesting concepts! Thanks for the thoughts!!
Hi Glad to know you liked it – Thanks.