One of the most ancient ways that human beings have sought direction and guidance is through reading the clouds. We have all probably participated in some form of cloud reading. Especially on a day with some sky showing and some huge, billowy clouds, we look up and for a moment, we see something familiar: a butterfly, superman, a dragon, and any other number of things that the cloud and our imaginations can create.
And then, it changes. By the time we get someone else to look up at the dragon that we see in the sky, it’s gone. Changed. Now, there’s no dragon. There’s just this blob of clouds. We walk away, and the person we asked to look calls out: wait, but did you see the canon up there? Seconds later, that, too, has morphed into something else.
In various cultures and religious expressions, serious attention has been given to the message sent to the community or the individual through the clouds. A certain skill set is required, and it’s not what we might think. It helps to have a good imagination, and it might help (or not) to have a tradition of meanings associated with certain images in the clouds. What is really needed is the ability to open one’s mind and heart to what is transforming right in front of our eyes. I might see a treasure box in the clouds, and over the next few seconds watch it completely transpose into a cradle. If I open my self to the message, I might hear the Universe reminding me that some of my greatest treasures are the little ones that we brought into this world AND . . . and that like the images in the clouds, our little ones are constantly growing and changing. Treasure, that, too.
Whether we watch the clouds for sacred meanings or not, there is truth and meaning to be found when we open our minds and hearts to what is moving and changing right before our lives.
~Bob Patrick
Great analogy ! Just as a tangent to this post, the study of creativity by Howard Gardner and DH Feldman both claim that the type of personal perception needed to “see insights” is basically tuning into a visual configuration of any kind ( grains of wood, water marks, marbleized tiles, etc…and letting your mind scan and pick up something recognizable or familiar. This is opposed to intentional focusing and making a cognitive effort to find what you are looking for. I can see that the latter of the 2 could turn into something like confirmation bias. Like Bob says, if we can stay open and invite the ever evolving ways of our world into our scope, maybe we could think a little bigger or at least be more creative about it !
Beautiful! Life Imis constantly changing just like the clouds.