Every bibliophile will have their own story of how their favourite books have found a place on their shelves. From finding books on trains, planes and automobiles (often the loss of a book becomes another reader’s gain!) to rummaging through an aunt’s bookshelf on a lazy Sunday afternoon, books have a way, they say, of finding us. On a tedious morning at the workplace, solace came from a cup coffee and a delightful book that was completely in pictorial form. Zoom by Istan Banyais is brilliant in both concept and illustration and an adventure in understanding meanings beyond words.
The book begins with a full page illustration of what looks like a rooster’s comb. The next page results in a journey where our perceptions begin shifting. The comb, which looks so large, is now shown on the top of the head of a rooster. Each page radically alters the illusion of what we see and think is of importance on a page. We find ourselves turning pages, each picture allowing our minds to readjust to the new image. Without giving too much away for future readers, we finally come to the last page, where the original illustration is very small part of a much larger picture. Zoom is a roller coaster mind-bending ride and sans text, we really begin to see what the phrase — the big picture — means.
The book may be viewed at http://www.slideshare.net/Pumamaqui/istvan-banyai
Many years ago (it seems lifetimes away!), as a university student grappling through the confusion that student life brings with it, a rather knotty problem was solved by the kindest words administered by a teacher, “Look at the big picture.” Suddenly, the mind, which was caught up in the narrow labyrinth of a situation, was able to see it in the context of larger schemata.
Years later, this advice came in handy when students approached me with various issues. We have all been through times when a problem seems so large and seems to have a power beyond our control. At that moment, our lives are enveloped by that crisis and we seem to be caught in a web of confusion. One student described it as trying to swim in quicksand! When we look back, perhaps with the wisdom of hindsight and experience, that intensity seems very remote and the problem no longer is seen to have the viper-like grip it once had on us.
Janaki, a student in her final year of school, was facing problems at home. Her decision to move to another city for her further education was the constant source of conversations and arguments at home. While Janaki felt it was time she became independent, her family did not share her vision of freedom. Every possible life-threatening scenario was played out. The internal conflict of savouring her independence was met by her own feelings of guilt. At that point, the entire picture in her mind was one of devastating gloom, and this translated into slipping academic grades and fights with her classmates. Regular counselling sessions and conversations with her teacher, allowed her to see the entire scene in the context of the larger scenario.
Her family members were advised to put a hold on all discussions until her public exams were over. By the end of the year, the problem had resolved itself — her parents were convinced of the validity of her decision after a mutual family friend agreed to be the local guardian and when she returned after her first semester, her new found confidence and sense of responsibility eased their fears and apprehensions. In retrospect, she says that the period of conflict and pain now seemed so distant — like it belonged to “another time and place.”
Opinions may change Seeing the big picture is best exemplified when we look at how our strongly held opinions about people dissolve as the “picture” about them changes. Minds are wonderful at creating labels and we ensure that we have enough examples to prove our opinion correct. If someone is viewed as being “arrogant,” then whatever they do will often be coloured by that perception. Our minds look for that “truth” to validate our judgments and the ego does everything to prove itself right!
As a teacher, many a time one has fallen prey to this process. Students who we had inevitably labelled in our minds as “irresponsible, arrogant/lazy” have, many years later, proved exactly the opposite by the lives they have carved for themselves. If we had allowed our minds to be open, we would have seen that everybody has the potential to present a higher aspect of themselves. Often we use the same brush of opinions and judgments to paint whole communities and nations of people. In an international school that I worked in, there were two students who refused to sit next to each other on account that their countries used to be at war. Each student had inherited a picture of hate from their parents though they themselves had not lived through those experiences. A few months later they discovered that they shared a love for football and Leonardo di Caprio, and became very good friends. The picture that they had painted of each other had altered through time and experience.
Seeing the light Our minds stubbornly hold on to our version of the truth. In an exquisite beautiful Japanese film, Rashomon, an incident that occurred is narrated from the point of view of eight characters, each version contradictory and serving the personal agendas of the each of the narrators. At the end, there is no one single truth. For most of us it is very difficult to see the Big Picture because that truth is far larger than what we can understand. We perhaps can lead freer, lighter lives by just being aware that our mind churns pictures which are just versions of reality. The less we become attached to those pictures, the more loving we become to ourselves and others.
The next time you find yourself in a corner either because of a situation or an opinion, just zoom around and look again. The new way of looking at things might just lead you to the door to unlimited possibilities!
Happy Zooming!
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