The photo above is from our 2018 trip to Britain’s countryside (the view is my bedroom’s view from a cottage owned by one of my dear cousins). The clean windows reminded me of an experience and awareness I gained while cleaning my home windows.
When I clean my home windows with Windex and old newspaper, I expect crystal clear view from inside out. For obvious reasons, I don’t care as much about how things look from outside in.
While cleaning from inside one day, I struggled with removing a spot. No matter how much Ammonia I sprayed or scrubbed, I could not achieve the clear vision I so expected.
So, I went in and out of the house to pinpoint the reason from both side but failed to achieve my clear view. I finally gave up. The mildew from watering the plants outside had left a permanent mark on the glass.
This made me think of my perceptions about life. The home was me and windows was my heart and mind. Sometimes I try hard to clean the windows from inside, so I can have crystal clear view of the truth outside of me.
Meanwhile, I work hard to clean the outside as well. This can be achieved by who I associate with, where I spend my time, what I choose to read, what I choose to watch, or what I choose to hear. Still, the control I have for my inside, is far greater than the control over my outside.
This awareness was profound then and still is. I concluded the following:
1- In order to have a somewhat crystal-clear view of the world, one has to continuously clean inside-out.
2- It does matter how much one tries cleaning the outside, mildew from other sources can impair the vision, and one has minimal control!
3- I believe there is a space inside of me, where there is no need for a glass to shield me! The glass is really the veil, so many mystiques refer to. The same veil that separates us from our true loving Self.
When I reach that point of being, I am sure, I can sing this lovely song by Jimmy Cliff:
AMBKJ