Why We Look But Don’t See – Part 1

“What is going on inside us is often the biggest reason for not being able to see that for which we are looking…” — Rick Cox.

Most of us have had the experience of looking for a certain piece of clothing only to come away without finding it. As a matter of fact, it could have been anything not just clothing. The other day I asked my wife to pick up a couple of bottles of supplements. She asked if I had looked ‘to see’ if we had any extra bottles to which I emphatically said, YES I had looked and, NO we did not! She then asked if I had looked in the lower cabinet under the counter as well as the upper one; and if I had looked on her side as well. Once again I told her I had looked so, please pick some up. Well, when she returned home, I looked in the bags she brought in, but none of the supplements I asked for were in them. I was disappointed. I asked her why and she said she didn’t want to purchase any until she had a chance ‘to see’ if I might have overlooked them. I assured her I did not.

Within a few moments of this exchange I was back at my computer typing while my wife put away the groceries. It might have been an hour or so later that she walked into my office and placed two bottles of the supplements on my desk. I said, “Well, so you really did buy them, thank you!” She responded by saying, “No I simply looked in my bottom cabinet and there they were staring at me.” I said that was not possible as I had looked and they were not there. She just smiled. Unfortunately, this has happened for missing shirts, pants, food, pills, you name it.

How often is it that what we are looking for is right in front of us yet, we are oblivious to it. We are looking, but we don’t see. The question is how can one person see it while the other cannot? I believe the answer lies in our mental state at the time we are looking. Allow me to explain.

If we were to analyze when this most often happens, it is usually when we are hard pressed with little or no time, desperately needing to get out the door in the next few seconds. Two things have helped to set up this situation. The first happens when we are under the pressure of having limited time. It is characteristic of times like this that we take on the mindset we will not be able to find that for which we are looking. The second reason this happens is because we have recently criticized someone else of not being able to find or see something that was right in front of them. The second is known as the Boomerang of Condemnation. This is when we have thrown out the boomerang by condemning others and it is now coming back to make us eat our own words. How common it is for us to wind up in one of these situations.

We wind up in the first situation simply because for the majority of us it is human nature to think negatively when the pressure is on. We find ourselves in the second situation because it is human nature to pick on others in order to elevate and make ourselves feel better when things go wrong and we compound it by criticizing and condemning the behavior of others for something which we are just as guilty of doing.

There is a story about this very issue told from different points of view found in Matthew 13:13-17; Mark 4:12 & Luke 8:10, where Jesus said that many look, but don’t see. Why would he say this? If you read the entire story in each of the books mentioned above you will see it was due to the life style of those to whom he was referring, which consisted of a critical spirit; a demeaning attitude, selfishness, and bigotry. It was this very mindset that kept them from seeing that which was right in front of them. Those who were unable to see were quick to condemn and criticize any and all, but were not willing to take a look at their own issues and deal with them.

Again in Matthew 7:3-5 and Luke 6:42 we find Jesus saying, “Why do you point out the splinter in the eye of others when you have a log in your own eye.” Once again we find that people are quick to point out the faults and shortcomings of others, but are unwilling to work on their own issues. More often than not we are so quick to judge and condemn yet, we find we have judged and condemned others for the very thing for which we ourselves are guilty. Hence, we find ourselves the recipient of the Boomerang of Condemnation, which in essence is telling us and others we are unable to see. We spend our lives looking, but not seeing because we are focused on the faults of others rather than focusing on correcting our own issues and becoming the best we can be.

Sadly when we aren’t able to see that which is around us we miss out on so much of what life has to offer. As a matter of fact we miss out on the best life has to give for it is not possible to be focused on others and successfully continue the growth and maintenance required for you to be your best. I suggest you not look at those around and get focused on your own life and where it is going. In doing so, you will find your life will become richer and fuller. I guarantee you will be much happier.

Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…

Respectfully,

Rick Cox