Many of us have heard of the term, "tunnel vision," or, "you've got blinders on," and I'm sure there are even more similar ones out there and they all mean the same thing - we've become too focused on the task at hand. At times that's not a bad thing, especially when there's a deadline involved, or it's a critical task that has to be done just right. Unfortunately it's also something that also gets applied to much of our lives as well.
Do we take certain things for granted? Do we follow a routine, just because it's the routine we know or we were taught? Are we simply following in the footsteps of others? Do we just do something, "because it's always been done that way?"
The challenge you need to put to yourself is to alter your line of thinking, look at it from another perspective.
Obi-Wan: "So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view."
Luke: "A certain point of view?"
Obi-Wan: "Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
- Obi-wan’s force ghost and Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi
I know, another movie quote, but take a moment and there really is a nugget there for you to grab onto. A lot of what we see and do in our lives is colored by the way we perceive the world around us, the "rose colored glasses" we all have a tendency to look through when it suits us.
Freemasonry is the same way and there's a symbol that demonstrates just this idea, and it's never looked at in that manner by most in the Craft - the point within the circle.
We are taught that the point is the Mason and that we are to travel along on the circle. A circular journey that I've touched on several times over the last few weeks, however, we're never taught to look back at the point. As you travel around that circle, if you were to look back at the point, it would be a slightly different view every single time. You would be evaluating that point from "a certain point of view."
Now what if you were to take and exchange yourself for the challenge you're currently facing or the decision you need to make, and travel around the circle. Now when you look to the center you're looking and your opportunity from different angles and points of view. You're getting the chance to evaluate things differently, stepping out from the tunnel vision, and thinking as opposed to just reacting or following a well worn path.
That's the real goal, to take the time and really look at what you're facing and evaluate it before you just react.