20 Big picture

20 What is the big picture?

Relax! Today’s article links you to your world without requiring you to save that world. Humans enjoy context (the big picture, your world). This is comforting if you agree with Friday’s message that the world is beautiful. Now we consider how that helps.

When we see ourselves in the bigger picture of reality, that affects three areas of our personhood:

1. Perspective gives meaning to our lives; we feel purpose in our being.

Life includes a feedback loop. In lay terms, that means that making a little progress inspires making more progress. Every success amplifies the next. We tend to do as well as we think we are doing. Thinking about our mistakes makes us less courageous. On the other hand, when we do anything positive, that increases our expectation of additional positive experiences. --

2. We appreciate relationships to our environment and to other people.

We draw strength from favorable resources and people. Knowing about service organizations provides channels that help us give service. Surrounded by similar efforts, our minds see progress as the normal course ahead. We are blessed by the tools we recognize and the company we keep. --

3. We draw succor from not being alone.

Seeing good examples everywhere could overawe us, but a healthy sense of individuality will let us feel valued differently. We do not have to equal the outstanding leaders we admire. Our comfort and satisfaction lie in being engaged in doing the same kind of service, whatever the scale of our projects. We do not expect to be the giants of our generation. We are sufficiently sustained by realizing that we are also engaged on the path to progress, and the world would amount to less without our individual contributions. --

The two prior articles advised, respectively, measuring and appreciating wisely. Greatness is the aggregate of those qualities. Doing right assures us that we are necessary to the big picture, and we are saving the world.

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