A telescope is just an instrument, a device made of metal and glass and plastic. Until someone looks through it, it’s inert. When someone does look through it, what they see depends on where they’re standing, where they point it, and how they categorize what they’re seeing. What makes a telescope function is the eyes and mind of the viewer. This is a great reminder that the one who is animating your life is you. You are like a telescope, and how you use your instrument determines what you see and how you see it, what you experience and how you experience it.

There are many ways to focus our perception, but we tend to limit our range. Collectively, humans are constantly reinforcing what reality “should” look like. We grow up learning which perceptions are acceptable and which are not.  We’ve even evolved our bodies to fit a specific design: our eyes and hands are forward-oriented, and although we walk on two legs we sit for most of our existence. We define reality with our five senses and discount our intuitive powers. If we were hoofed beings walking through the forest or winged beings flying through the sky or scaled beings swimming in the water, we would have a much different perception of the world.

Are you aware of your awareness? How are you using your telescope? Exploring the wealth of possibility in a multi-layered Universe? Or doom scrolling to reinforce a limited view of reality?  It’s always possible to connect with the cosmos, but only if we point our telescope there.