I can scarcely drive down any major street in my valley without being bombarded by billboards, advertisements, or signs urging me to focus my attention on some frivolous endeavor or product. My mind is constantly being confronted by these messages, shouting loudly from the television, radio, internet, and movie screen. It seems if I put my attention to merely a fraction of them, I wouldn’t have enough time to begin to think about what really matters. In fact, what does really matter? What is truly important? And what is real?
 
I find myself asking this question a lot these days, submerged in a world of distractions where every person is fending for themselves and brother is turned against brother. The media and corporate giants are embroiled in a consumer tug-of-war and it’s all we can do sometimes to stay aloof. This can get overwhelming and even downright disparaging at times.
 
But I propose there is another perspective, a “higher” one, if you will. From this perspective, the clouds seem to clear along with the billboards, advertisements, and status symbols. The celebrity tabloids and campaign slogans fall by the wayside, too. There begins to emerge a dimension of reality quite different from the one we’ve been conditioned to see. We start to notice we’ve been sleepwalking all along, only half-conscious of our existence. We begin to sense there’s more to “life” than what we see or hear or think. And we come to realize there’s a greater reality outside the minute microcosm we’ve been swept up in all our lives.
 
This other reality sends messages of hope and love to our soul. Unbeckoned, this reality whispers to our heart in quiet moments that we’re more than we have believed ourselves to be. So much more. A sense of other-worldly significance begins to settle upon us and we find ourselves looking inward, gazing upward, and peering forward for more clues into this other “reality.” We feel the presence of lost loved ones ever-nearer to us and life begins to take on new meaning.
Perhaps there’s more to life than the latest iphone or Plasma TV. Maybe our social level isn’t as vital as our spiritual level. And possibly we’ve got greater attainments ahead of us than a comfortable retirement in the Keys one day.
In those rare but clarified moments, a divine glimpse reveals itself to us that we are eternal, a higher being with a higher purpose. Our soul knows this. Our spirit lives for it. Somewhere deep down, we feel driven to find that purpose, awaken that spirit, and set flight that soul. It even seems many details of our lives are nudging us in this direction, unseen and unheard but ever-present, and we can’t help but be moved to explore what lay beyond…