It’s a Bigger World Than We Think

Knowing and accepting the actual size of things in this world, and in life, is a great advantage.

Put very simply, no matter how hard we try we’re never going to conquer the world or overcome it our natural way—either via ambition or reticence. The former is attempting to meet and leap over any and all challenges. It will be found despairing eventually. The latter has given up already. It is no threat to itself, let alone the world.

The only way we ‘conquer the world’ is through an uncommon acceptance, or accepting how awesome life and worldly things are. This is necessarily a willing acceptance and not a resigned acceptance.

Tiny Calling to Tall

And perhaps what makes this world so huge in our estimations is the size of the miniscule things; one human cell, for instance. We don’t usually view ourselves as the conglomeration of a few billion machines.

It’s not until we see ourselves as ants that we truly see how large elephants are. This is not even regarding the wonders of space and the universe. We are very small. But it’s in our tininess that we see from a more right-sized perspective.

Seeing things for the size they actually are is a great testimony to the acuity of our sight; it’s not something ever to be taken for granted.

So, What Are Some of These ‘Great’ Advantages?

Seeing things as they truly are means:

1. We waste less of our lives chasing mirages. In this we dream less the useless dreams and dream more about what we could achieve. Our ‘calculated’ risks leave us with a quiet and humble confidence for the capacity to achieve. Our dreams are more grounded in the possible than they are in the impossible.

2. Fears are reconciled to truth. Fear is not a bad thing if we are ‘fearing’ correctly. Yet, ninety-nine percent of everyday fear is nonsensical; still, we’re apt at fearing—all of us. Fears that are reconciled to truth are not to be feared; they warn us about how to live life, that’s all. These are not the sorts of fears that produce anxiety or depression in us.

3. We get to more fully appreciate the beauty and wonder in and of life in this macrocosmic world. To live a minute without wonder is to negate the blessings of God that are to live in a world such as ours. It’s actually high treason (and, therefore, so amazing is God’s grace!).

4. Acceptance, finally, is something to become us. The endpoint and goal of life is acceptance. The quicker we traverse our way there, the more fulfilling life will be from that point onward.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.