What is "interior space"? It is the field in which the soul runs free (or not so free). My perspective is that a person with small interior space has limited understanding of the importance of context, exploration, and cultural movement. A tiny interior space has the potential to create people whose souls are crowded and claustrophobic, resulting in a soul that is unhealthy. In this kind of person, new or strange events and experiences are sifted through a strict, rigid paradigm before they are processed. For example, if a person is inwardly petite they may meet another person who is completely different from them. Because that new person is sifted so fervently through a limited paradigm, all of them may be sifted away except for the differences between the two.
The Grinch is a perfect, however extreme, example of this. He sees a culture, group of people, and a custom as foolish and dreadful. Why is that, though? Because his perspectives of the Whos in Whoville are sifted through the paradigm of his selfishness. The Whos were happy, he was not. The Whos celebrated, he had nothing about which to celebrate. Their happy celebrations were creating a noisy raucous which annoyed him. From his mountain, the Grinch, possibly even unwittingly, only saw what he chose to see.
I say all this to explain a new theory I have. Travelling is one of the many things that has huge potential to expand one´s interior space! Spain is the third country I have visited in the past two or so years, and each time I have traveled I have acquired and maintained great affection for those countries. However, travelling has also grown my love and appreciation for the U.S. How do I have room to learn so much about lovely, distinct countries, and love their distinctness? The field for my soul is larger! From one part in my space I can look a short ways away to other provinces of context. My paradigm sifter has become much less of sifter now, allowing for more things to be processed as more whole and conjoined objects. By no means am I saying that this makes me better or smarter than anyone else. What I am saying is that it is easier to like and appreciate a wide variety of experiences when there is a better context for understanding them.
Back to my friend the Grinch, he lacked very much in abilities of contextualization. He never tried to understand and appreciate things about the Whos and their customs. He tried only to take action and change them and their culture. He thought removing tangible parts of their custom would cause it to cease to exist and have meaning. However, the Whos went ahead with their loving and their celebrating because Christmas and its meaning extended far deeper than the tangible things and permeated all parts of their lives. The Grinch, astonished by his failure to change the Whos´culture, was in turn changed by it.¨"And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day." Before, it was too small, but after it was almost too big to reside in his chest. The Grinch left his mountain cave bent on hating and changing people who were different than him, but those people taught him about himself and themselves in one stride. He returned to his mountain cave a different Grinch.
So what does this mean for us? Does it mean we are all grinches to begin with? No, of course not! It means we always have room to grow. There are always things we can learn! What better way to increase our capacity for being the kind of people who appreciate life than to explore this beautiful world? This world that has a "Baskin Robbins selection" of cultures and people! I know that, for me, having a growing interior space has allowed me to see things in a more gracious light. God has taught me to laugh at a man who was trying to pickpocket me, and just generally go with the flow. Life is never always roses, butterflies, and sunshine, but why should we not try to see the sunshine in everything? Running away from the world only teaches us to fear it, but if we engage the world God can use us to change it for the better. Likewise, God can use the world's many lessons to make us better.
The Grinch is a perfect, however extreme, example of this. He sees a culture, group of people, and a custom as foolish and dreadful. Why is that, though? Because his perspectives of the Whos in Whoville are sifted through the paradigm of his selfishness. The Whos were happy, he was not. The Whos celebrated, he had nothing about which to celebrate. Their happy celebrations were creating a noisy raucous which annoyed him. From his mountain, the Grinch, possibly even unwittingly, only saw what he chose to see.
I say all this to explain a new theory I have. Travelling is one of the many things that has huge potential to expand one´s interior space! Spain is the third country I have visited in the past two or so years, and each time I have traveled I have acquired and maintained great affection for those countries. However, travelling has also grown my love and appreciation for the U.S. How do I have room to learn so much about lovely, distinct countries, and love their distinctness? The field for my soul is larger! From one part in my space I can look a short ways away to other provinces of context. My paradigm sifter has become much less of sifter now, allowing for more things to be processed as more whole and conjoined objects. By no means am I saying that this makes me better or smarter than anyone else. What I am saying is that it is easier to like and appreciate a wide variety of experiences when there is a better context for understanding them.
Back to my friend the Grinch, he lacked very much in abilities of contextualization. He never tried to understand and appreciate things about the Whos and their customs. He tried only to take action and change them and their culture. He thought removing tangible parts of their custom would cause it to cease to exist and have meaning. However, the Whos went ahead with their loving and their celebrating because Christmas and its meaning extended far deeper than the tangible things and permeated all parts of their lives. The Grinch, astonished by his failure to change the Whos´culture, was in turn changed by it.¨"And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day." Before, it was too small, but after it was almost too big to reside in his chest. The Grinch left his mountain cave bent on hating and changing people who were different than him, but those people taught him about himself and themselves in one stride. He returned to his mountain cave a different Grinch.
So what does this mean for us? Does it mean we are all grinches to begin with? No, of course not! It means we always have room to grow. There are always things we can learn! What better way to increase our capacity for being the kind of people who appreciate life than to explore this beautiful world? This world that has a "Baskin Robbins selection" of cultures and people! I know that, for me, having a growing interior space has allowed me to see things in a more gracious light. God has taught me to laugh at a man who was trying to pickpocket me, and just generally go with the flow. Life is never always roses, butterflies, and sunshine, but why should we not try to see the sunshine in everything? Running away from the world only teaches us to fear it, but if we engage the world God can use us to change it for the better. Likewise, God can use the world's many lessons to make us better.
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