Lavender

              Lavender is interesting to most who may be gardeners as they till mother earth's soil, but it is not exactly a main topic of conversation. Say the word lavender and the first thought that comes to mind is color or perhaps the sweel fragrance of the bush. It is one of those words that can instantly bring up different pictures or different aspects of memory - whether it is with the sense of smell, the sense of sight, or the sense of touch. It is a word that can symbolize various aspects of one particular thing.

             How many things do we limit to one sense? How many use only the eyes or only the ears or only the intellectual sense? For the most part, we think of them as separate and not as senses that can blend together. Yet in taking something as simply as the word lavender, we can see that to really know what that means we would have to know the entirety of it. This isn't always possible as we cannot understand or perceive the layers or intensities of the color lavender as an artist may, but we can see how an artist interprets it and come to our own conclusion, for we each see and understand with different eyes and different senses. So what one person calls lavender, another may call by a different name, perhaps purple, but they may be generally speaking of the same thing. Listening to another's interpretation of an object is to increase one's own understanding. That person's insight may allow us to perceive what we could not see from our own being. It is a good way to understand that one cannot always say something is right, in the way it is seen from one perspective, for there are many avenues and paths and visions to understanding. Too often we are too quick to accept that we know something to the point where there is no further need for any further investigation or additional learning, yet there are always more insights than one can imagine. Look at how often the words of a child can cause an adult to look at something in a new way.

              Just as we have different insights, we have similar but different ways of experiencing the same thing. What may smell good to you, may not be so good to another and then to take a third or fourth example, there may be sensing that cannot be described. We each learn from each other and it is good to listen to how others experience what you yourself experience, perhaps there is a lesson there.

             If I say ... ahhhh, lavender ..... did you think of the fragrance or the color? Does it matter? It is sensing and awareness of lavender that has us sharing the thought. Along this path of listening to other's interpretation, be aware that your own may change with a little more expansion of the sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing. Take a second look.