Ask Lemmy

Bear with me. It's the value of how powerful a new perspective can be. There's a Cohen brothers movie I really like called A Serious Man. It's very funny but has a weighty undertone to it. The main character is trying to figure out his life and what things mean. He is Jewish and hopes that his faith can provide some answers. He makes an appointment with a wise and prominent Rabbi but at the last minute the Rabbi is unavailable and he sees a younger, junior Rabbi instead. He's taken into his small office with one window that looks over a parking lot. As he explains his plight to the Rabbi the Rabbi suggests that, rather than faith providing an answer, it's his perspective that needs to change. The Rabbi looks out the window at the very plain, ordinary, and normal parking lot that no one would give a second thought about and asks him to imagine a visitor, someone who isn't familiar with parking lots, that when seeing something nearly all of us wouldn't give a second thought about, sees something new and magical and wonderous simply because he's seeing it for the first time with new eyes and exclaims look at the parking lot! I find it a very powerful scene. It's one of my favorite movies.