I was washing dishes when I saw a picture in my mind and a swell of words, emotions and thoughts consumed me all at once. One of those Aha! moments that had to be captured before it flew away.
A big blue ocean. A person swimming on the surface. The depths below that went from a bright blue and gradually got darker...to a deep navy - not quite black but almost.
My heart struck.
Surface People.
On the surface, we can't see the fish. Sometimes they come up and we see a couple kinds. Dolphins grace us with a fantastic performance of leaps and splashes! Quite entertaining. But it happens at the surface. They don't live their lives there. They just show up from time to time. The surface people can know of such a thing as a dolphin because they come to them - not the other way around. Also, the surface is comfortable.
A Curious Surface Person gets some gear - a pair of snorkel goggles- he can see what's immediately beneath the surface.
Oh! That's what that looks like.. You can see some of the glimmer of light that pass through the surface. You can maybe see some fish. Based on the depth of your current location and your lung capacity, you can dive a bit deeper and see a bit more. But you must come back to the surface. You're back at the surface but you are now aware that there is more to see than just the dolphins that come up sometimes. There's more to the big blue water than you can see - from the surface.
Our curious Surface Person acquires better gear. We have scuba gear.
This lets us dive deeper, stay longer, learn more. We can see the life the dolphins have before and after their gymnastic displays on the surface. We can see so much more. We learn so much more. But we must still come back to the surface.
At the surface, there's other surface people. They are quite content with being on the surface. The thought of what is beneath them has never crossed their minds. They just enjoy the dolphin show when it comes. They enjoy the whale tail splashes when that comes along. Our curious surface person...starts to talk about the things he's learned about what's going on under the surface. Some of the other surface people don't believe him. After all, you can't believe what you cannot see, imagine or understand. Some ask questions and are interested in getting their own snorkel goggles to at least get a glimpse of some of this depth beneath the surface. Some don't even pay attention; too busy looking at the dolphins because that's all there is to know.
Our Curious Surface Person acquires a submarine.
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After all, the scuba gear can only let you go so deep. What's there beyond that? He's curious...so he goes. He finds that in the deep depths there is so much more to see. The systems from surface to depth and all in between all have a greater purpose. The deeper he goes, the greater the psi, and so is a greater awareness of the prospect of more unknowns. You only know this if you decide to go deeper. You won't know this if your world is just as big as the surface and does not consider the idea of depth.
Anyway, our Curious Surface Person in his submarine has found fish with lights, giant octopuses, squid, crustaceans - that look rather different from the kind on reef level. Some of these creatures are beyond imagination!
But, alas! Even in a submarine, our Curious Surface Person must come back to the surface. At the surface, he tells the tales of that fish with a light bulb on his head! He uses it to lure other fish in the darkness to eat. Lies! He's making that up! Say some. IMPOSSIBLE! Say others. A few say Tell me more.
We're all surface people. Doesn't matter what gear you have you still must come to the surface. But we can be surface people with a greater awareness of what's below. We can be surface people who talk to those who have been to the depths and learn from them. We can get snorkel gear and talk to those with scuba gear. We're all at different places in our experience with depth.
What struck me was when I thought about relating with others who have no gear and those with better gear than I have.
This term: Hydro-Static Pressure
The snorkel gear guy has heard of this but hasn't really experienced it since he can't go that deep anyway that it would affect him. It's "that thing that happens when you get deeper". A general idea of what it is.
The scuba gear guy. He had to have training to know what could go wrong with his body if he's ignorant about Hydro-static Pressure. He might can't dive again for a while if he is not careful. He has more than just a general idea of what it means.
The submarine guy. Well, he knows how to calculate this stuff. He knows why, how, and can make informed decisions about things because he has the most knowledge about Hydro-static pressure. He knows all there is to know about HSP. He doesn't even need to say the whole thing. He just calls it HSP.
It's important for us to know what gear we have and how much we know- or don't know - because of it. The submarine guy knows what he knows. He knows it because he wondered about what happens when the dolphins are done with the show, while you're waiting on the surface for the next show to start, completely unaware of the depths of knowledge, wisdom and understanding beneath the surface. To these Surface People, the surface means so much more. The dolphin display has greater meaning, the whale tail splashes are grander, and the different shades of blue in the ocean speak so much more to him than just - blue. Be curious, my friends. Get the proper gear.
