Sometimes I enjoy perusing the Serendipity Bible for stimulating questions. In a study of the book of Psalms it poses the
following question: “Are you a ‘detail
person’ or a ‘big picture thinker’? What
evidence do you have to support this claim?” (10th Anniversary
Edition, 845). In response to this
question I think of how we view children who are in some ways less than ideally
situated. When we view the face of a
child in this circumstance we may be moved to tears. Such sadness derives from seeing simultaneously
the detail—the face of the child—and the big picture—the deadening hand of fate. Joy also arises from perceiving detail and
the big picture simultaneously. On
witnessing the birth of a baby, we shed tears of joy for both welcoming a fresh
individual into the world and at the same moment sensing our own transience and
mortality. When we are transfixed observing
the performance of excellence in music, we focus on individual mastery in
concert with the fleeting nature of perfection.
While we can focus on detail or draw sweeping global views, the merging of
the two gives us the fullest of perceptions—the sudden emergence of synoptic meaning
coincident with stark detail.
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