The Clouds From Above

For thousands and thousands of years of human history the vast majority of the population never once saw what a cloud looks like from above. They never saw what the earth looked like eight miles above the ground. These sights are ones that are now made available to a large portion of the human population and have only been available for the past one hundred years or so.  Many people today see these sights quite often, some only once every few years, but most people in today's society have flown on an aircraft and most people I encounter on aircrafts do not seem to care much for the sights at hand.

Why is it that when I am on the airplane I feel as if I am the only one who has any interest in staring out the window at the gorgeous and unique view for long periods of time? Why is it that despite my interest I do not spend the entirety of my flight staring out the window? Why do I spend time with my face in books or on screens? The sight out the window of an aircraft is truly incredible. Why do we take it for granted?

I find myself regularly enamored by looking out the window of an airplane. However, as I have mentioned my interest only holds my attention for so long. Us humans seem to have lost our interest in the incredible. We are so distracted by our own cellular worlds or our pursuit of knowledge or our own thoughts that we lose sight of the world around us. With the correct perspective, walking outside each day could be an adventure. Instead, it is often purely an inconvenience. 

It seems that many of us are only interested in seeing something new once, if at all, then we move on. The first snow of the season is worth looking out the window to watch for a couple of fleeting seconds, then we shut the shades until spring. A new outdoor art exhibit is worth a brief glance then we no longer care that it exists. A new acquaintance is worth meeting once, then we connect on social media, then we forget our encounter. It is almost as if we live in a world of collecting claims to experiences. We see the first snowfall of the season and we can tell our friends and family that we saw it. We meet a new acquaintance and we can add them to our facebook, so that our new acquaintance and our old ones can see how many friends we truly have. We collect these moments to say that we have collected them, to tell ourselves that we have collected them. It is in the satisfaction of knowing that we have collected the moment or the place or the friend that we are fulfilled. It is not worth returning to look out the window the next time it snows or the next time we are on a plane. Why? Because it is to similar to the last time. The experience has lost it's novelty. 

But the beauty is still there! The sight should be just as beautiful the second snowfall of the season. The novelty is no longer there to satisfy our need to collect, but the experience is still worth having. If the snowfall is beautiful, why stop looking? One must live their life you may respond, but I would say that one can live their life and still look out the window each time it snows. I acknowledge that their must be a moment when you stop looking out the window in order to engage with the world inside the window, but we barely look out the window at all anymore. We do not look at beauty for the pure purpose of seeing something beautiful; there is always an agenda.

In fact, I would extend my thoughts to claim that the second snowfall is completely different than the first snowfall; one just needs to look long enough in order to see it. Every beautiful thing is different than the last, we have just lost the attention span to enjoy the subtleties. Even a beautiful piece of artwork is ever-changing because the viewer of the artwork is ever-changing. A man grows in the way he views the world and if he visits a piece of artwork at the beginning of his life and at the end of his life he would see it  very differently. I would argue that if one views a piece of artwork at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day they would see if differently. Once again, the difference may take time and consideration for the beholder to notice it.

Therefore, I implore you dear reader to take time to watch the snowfall each time that it does. Take time to examine an ancient piece of artwork for the hundred and first time. Take time to examine the incomparable beauty of a cloud from above.


The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands. Day unto day takes up the story and night unto night makes known the message. No speech, no word, no voice is heard yet their span extends through all the earth, their words to the utmost bounds of the world. There he has placed a tent for the sun; it comes forth like a bridegroom coming from his tent, rejoices like a champion to run its course. At the end of the sky is the rising of the sun; to the furthest end of the sky is its course. There is nothing concealed from its burning heat. (Psalm 19:1-7)


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