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If you have ever had a professor or teacher ask you the question, “Now, what did the author mean when he said that the curtains were blue?”, and your response was the curtains are fucking blue, that’s exactly what he meant, then this message will not relate to you. However, for the rest of us “big picture” thinkers (you know who you are), this is especially for you. Maybe you can find some peace in knowing, you’re not crazy for trying to analyze Family Guy or Bob’s Burgers for deeper meaning. You’ve probably been referred to as deep, a hippie, free spirit, over thinker, over analyzer, annoying to watch movies with, etc. You’re the person who is more occupied with the historical or social context of a movie than the actual plot. Maybe Fifty Shades of Grey made you think a lot more about the oppression and objectification of women, than a risqué soft porno, and maybe the red room had an implied reason by the author for being painted red, outside of it just being their favorite color. I don’t mean to make this a rant about Fifty Shades, there is plenty more to unravel in that hot mess.
If you’re looking for some philosophical clarity for the rest of the world never being able to see through your glasses, refer to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In this particular allegory, Plato sets a scene where three individuals are chained to a wall in a cave, they are unable to turn their heads and look at one another, all the can see is the shadows dancing on the wall, illuminated from a flame above. These people have made their own assumptions about what the shadows above are, and have no idea that the outside world even exists, their own world, their only Truth, is what’s being reflected from the flame. If the flame were to go out, they would not know the cause, if they were to be let into the room with the flame, they would not know that fire causes burns, which causes pain. Though I believe in my own interpretation, Plato is not referring to the four dimensional reality as I am, but an actual fourth dimension of time and space. However, we do agree in our use of logic that, to Plato, our bodies are metaphorical to the cave, which prohibit us from venturing into the fourth dimension, whereas to me, our minds are the cave. I’m a believer in the Phenomenological Tradition, where our individual experiences, determine how we interpret what others say and do. If you can however, listen to the experiences of others, in order to gain knowledge to direct your own judgment to give a less privileged group a more positive experience, you get a glimpse into that fourth dimension. The more you learn about the many differences we face as humans, the more we enter that fourth dimension.
Although its crazy and utopian for me to believe that in my lifetime or even my children’s that we create a completely four dimensional society, I’d like to live my life as if tomorrow is the day for universal coexistence, and treat others different than myself as if anything less than total acceptance, is totally unacceptable. You will become frustrated with others who will tell you what you see is not there, and even when you offer them your glasses, they will reject your assistance. There will be days where something comes on the TV that causes you so much agony at the very core of your entire being, you feel your fight is over. There will be nights you lie awake in bed and question your purpose in life, when you play Devil’s Advocate with your own soul, and create a never ending list of “what if’s” that all want to destroy you. There will be days you start a fire, only to be extinguished in the rain as soon as you walk out your front door. You will be without an umbrella in a storm, while waiting for a bus that you’re not sure will ever come, and you will raise your voice to scream in frustration, and be drowned out by the crowd. Sometimes you will fall and cry for help, only to be filled with more bullet holes, and not even an ambulance will come to retrieve you, when 911 gives you the busy tone, and you’ve sipped the last drop of water in the desert, and no one’s going to come to save you.
Spiderman taught us that with great power, comes great responsibility, and your ability to see under the soil and follow the roots into the ground is a great power, your passion for others, and drive to locate justice on a map without a compass is what makes you unstoppable. When you see oppression, don’t close your eyes, instead cure the blindness, if you hear oppression, don’t drown it out, heal the deaf, when you smell oppression don’t overpower it with a different scent, but turn off the fan and breathe in deep, when you feel oppression, do not be crippled by pain, or dull it with medication, that will only cause temporary relief. Instead, when you feel oppression you stand up, and you go through it headfirst, and you don’t stop fighting until it’s over. Times like these, when you’re in the spotlight and being booed off stage, while slipping on acres of rotten tomatoes, are opportunities to smile, because you have cared so deeply about something larger than yourself, to face the criticism, and embrace rejection from a world that makes choices with no wider considerations than what can be reflected on a spoon. Your relationships with others will be strong and true, and you will love and be loved deeper than most, because you’ve learned how long it took the negative to develop into the very picture you are holding, and the process makes the product so much more valuable. When the birds stop singing use your own lungs, and on the days the sun isn’t shining your soul will light the way. So next time the world turns it’s back on you, don’t turn your face to the sky, you already have acres of diamonds just above your nose.