Relative Realities of a Current Position.

I don't know if you have experienced this, but I have. You have a book to read for a class or something, so you get to reading. Readily you decide that laying down will be much more comfortable, so you follow you heart. Then five minutes into reading prostrate, you decide that sleeping will the most beneficial decision because you are really tired and you end up reading a total of 2 pages maybe. Then after a healthy 45 minute nap, a snack is in order followed by some recreation. Then, an hour and 15 minutes after the initial distraction, you return to reading. 

I've realized that if while reading, one will sit up, or read at a desk, this process will not occur. This is the problem of positions. My feelings are very convincing. I can read for five minutes laying down and be exhausted, or an hour sitting up and be drowsy. Feelings are dangerous. I wouldn't go so far to say that they lie to us, for feelings serve purposes. I submit that feelings exaggerate situations to a ridiculous degree on occasion. Example: arguments make feelings explode out of control. Friends and family will argue and say things that are terrible and inside the people involved can feel like they hate the other, or that the other hates them, but it is not the truth. Granted, the two are upset, but inside they inflate the situation to the extreme. Unfortunately this happens to me. Not usually in arguments, but I'll entertain an idea in my head, both good and bad, and make it more than it is, glorify it, essentially lie to myself about it. I can make up a whole story about it in my head. Last night I spent 20 minutes thinking about what my life would be like if I lost my left hand. 

This brings up the questions, what position am I in now? Are my feelings lying to me right now about something? If I change positions will I gain a greater insight to the truth or lose clarity? Obviously there is one overall reality that is this world. But every one has their relative reality. Life for me is incredibly different that life for a starving orphan who lives not one hour away. Likewise, life for a junior high girl is completely different than nun in a convent. Teachers and students are in the same room, but often hold completely different ideas about education. This is what I mean when I say, relative realities. Then we can introduce God on to the scene (or rather a realization of God for He never left, He has always been there, we are the ones who deny or recognize His presence), and He changes everything. Our perception of reality is SO relative. In the Bible, the self-righteous rich man giving to the temple from his excess, and the widow who gave from her sustenance, had completely different realities.

 I can't speak against this fact but merely point it out. All of this in order to give an insight on something that is so common yet so unrecognized. All of this to help us make decisions based not solely on our feelings or our own reality. All of this to say, I'm almost halfway done with the semester. 

-matthew (trying to fly his kite)