I am learning to see the present in the light of the end.
The last one month of difficult encounters and maintaining reflective silence has taught me many things. Above all, I learn to look at things from different perspective.
Recently I am reading this book – Finishing Well by Dr. David Wong. It’s about Bible people living their lives and how they close their life’s chapters. It is a wonderful book with many insightful lessons to learn – how Joseph closing a chapter of hurt; Naomi closing a chapter of loss; David; Samuel; etc. I wish all my Christian friends read this easy-to-read book. (David Wong is a Singaporean pastor, trained in Fuller Theological Seminary).
In this book, he shared a wonderful illustration:
In 1946, following the end of the Second World War, a Jewish prisoner-of-war published a book about his years in the concentration camp of the Nazis. In his book, Viktor E. Frankl describes his time in prison as “one misery after another.” He was constantly worrying about whether there would be enough food for the day, whether the foreman at work would be cruel, whether he could find a string to tie his shoes.
This went on for a while. One day he decided that enough was enough. He saw a vision of himself standing in a well-lit auditorium addressing hundreds of people sitting in posh cushioned chairs. He was dressed in a suit and giving a lecture on what life was like under Hitler during the war.
“I became disgusted with the state of affairs which compelled me, daily and hourly, to think of only such trivial things. I focused my thoughts to turn to another subject. Suddenly, I saw myself standing on the platform of a well-lit, warm and pleasant lecture room. In front of me sat an attentive audience on comfortable upholstered seats. I was giving a lecture on the psychology of the concentration camp!
“All that oppressed me at that moment became objective, seen and described from the remote viewpoint of science. By this method I succeeded somehow in rising above the situation, above the sufferings of the moment, and I observed them as if they were already in the past.”
From the day Viktor Frankl saw his life’s final outcome, every experience was viewed differently. Every experience was viewed from the perspective of his vision. Every experience, however hard and painful, became material for his lecture on life in a German concentration camp. His life took on a different perspective, a life’s perspective.
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This wonderful life’s perspective of Viktor Frankl has changed tremendously my recent feelings and encounter. It no longer become stressful, but become material for my future use…
