{"id":94745,"date":"2026-09-09T09:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T14:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritualsparks.beehiiv.com\/p\/spiritual-sparks-what-lens-are-you-looking-through"},"modified":"2026-09-09T09:57:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T14:57:00","slug":"spiritual-sparks-what-lens-are-you-looking-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/spiritual-sparks-what-lens-are-you-looking-through\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Sparks: What Lens Are You Looking Through?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n    <div class='beehiiv'><style>\n  .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; }\n  .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; }\n  .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; }\n  .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; }\n  .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; }\n<\/style><div class='beehiiv__body'><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><i>A shift in perspective can change what you see<\/i><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">A wise old man sat just outside a city when a traveler approached him. \u201cWhat kind of people live in this city?\u201d the traveler asked. The wise man answered with a question of his own. \u201cWhat were the people like in the town you just left?\u201d<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">The traveler scowled. \u201cThey were terrible -- mean, lazy, and completely unhelpful. That\u2019s why I left.\u201d The wise man nodded. \u201cI\u2019m sorry to tell you, but you\u2019ll find much the same kind of people here.\u201d Disappointed, the traveler sighed and continued toward the city.<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>How could the wise man possibly know?<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><i>Before we continue: I&#39;m trying something new this week. At the end of today&#39;s Spiritual Sparks, you&#39;ll find a brief video from me. If we&#39;ve never had the opportunity to meet, this may be our first chance to do so!<\/i><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u2728<b>3 Ideas<\/b><\/p><ol start=\"1\"><li><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>The gift of a borrowed lens<\/b><\/p><\/li><\/ol><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">We see the world from where we stand. But one vantage point can\u2019t show us everything. Classic wisdom teaches that just as people\u2019s faces differ, so too do their opinions. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Another person may see something that is invisible from our own position. Borrowing another person\u2019s lens doesn\u2019t mean surrendering our own perspective or judgment. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Seeing through another person\u2019s eyes doesn\u2019t require closing our own.<\/b> Even when another view doesn\u2019t change our mind, learning to see beyond ourselves can expand our understanding -- and refine the soul. <\/p><ol start=\"2\"><li><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>When the lens gets clouded <\/b><\/p><\/li><\/ol><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Few of us look through perfectly neutral eyes. Our expectations, past experiences, and assumptions can quietly color what we see. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>What needs changing isn\u2019t what we\u2019re looking at, but what we\u2019re looking through.<\/b>\u00a0<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">An old story tells of a man who repeatedly complained that his neighbor\u2019s laundry looked dirty. One morning, it suddenly appeared spotless. \u201cI got up early and cleaned our windows,\u201d his wife explained. <\/p><ol start=\"3\"><li><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Polishing the inner lens<\/b><\/p><\/li><\/ol><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">We carry a picture of who we are, often formed long ago. Sometimes others recognize qualities and possibilities in us that we can\u2019t see. Their eyes may perceive courage, kindness, or strength obscured by an outdated image of who we think we are. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>At times the person we most need to learn to see with new eyes is ourselves.<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Polishing the inner lens is about seeing ourselves more truthfully -- and recognizing more clearly the beauty, potential, and grandeur of the soul within. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:#d0e0e3;\">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<\/span><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\ud83d\udcdc<b>2 Quotes<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u201cUncover my eyes and I shall look at hidden things\u2026\u201d <br>\u2014 <i>Psalms 119:18<\/i><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u201cThe question is not what you look at, but what you see.\u201d<br>\u2014 <i>Henry David Thoreau <\/i><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:#d0e0e3;\">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<\/span><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u2753<b>1 Question<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">What quality might others see in you that you have difficulty seeing in yourself? <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:#d0e0e3;\">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<\/span><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Later, another traveler asked the wise man the same question. But this traveler described the people he had left behind as kind, generous, and helpful. \u201cYou\u2019ll find much the same kind of people here,\u201d the wise man told him. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">How could he know? <b>He understood that what we see is shaped, in part, by the lens we\u2019re looking through. <\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Sometimes a different perspective helps us see another person or the world more clearly. And sometimes, it allows us to discover something beautiful in our soul that was there all along. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Until next time,<br>Wishing you a week of seeing the good in others -- and in yourself, <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Rabbi Ze&#39;ev Smason<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">P.S. Has a friend or relative ever helped you see a strength or good quality in yourself that you hadn\u2019t seen before? I\u2019d love to hear that story if you care to share it. <\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">P.P.S. As promised, here\u2019s something new -- a brief video from me. I wrote <i>Spiritual Sparks: A Reader<\/i> for others, but also for myself. This is a 50-second thought about one of its lessons: forgiveness. <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/atuNS0XH14s?feature=share&utm_source=spiritualsparks.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=spiritual-sparks-what-lens-are-you-looking-through\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Watch the video<\/a><\/p><\/div><div class='beehiiv__footer'><br class='beehiiv__footer__break'><hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a  class=\"beehiiv__footer_link\" style=\"text-align: center;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beehiiv.com\/powered-by?publication_logo=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.beehiiv.com%2Fcdn-cgi%2Fimage%2Ffit%3Dscale-down%2Cformat%3Dauto%2Conerror%3Dredirect%2Cquality%3D80%2Fuploads%2Fpublication%2Flogo%2F3f159f9b-5409-4503-a8c8-75c1d2b61224%2Fspiritual_sparks__1_.png%3Fv%3D1788965828&publication_name=Spiritual+Sparks&utm_campaign=9fda3ebd-042f-4f2b-bbb4-6e69baf5869e&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=spiritual_sparks\">Powered by beehiiv<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A shift in perspective can change what you see<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14776],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94745"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94746,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94745\/revisions\/94746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}