Actual Size

by Bert Carson

We have a Fiat dealer in town.  The first that I know of in Huntsville, and we've lived here going on fifteen years.  The size and design of the Italian automobiles stand out in a herd of American, Japanese, and German automobiles.  That's not an endorsement, just a statement of fact.

  

Because they stand out, when I saw one in a parking lot I was crossing, I gave it a closer look than I normally give a small ugly car.  That's why I noticed the small sticker in the back window that read, "ACTUAL SIZE."

That started me thinking.  Not about Fiats, or even cars for that matter.  It started me thinking about size, what it is, why it matters, how to measure it. 

I don't know about you, but when I start playing with an idea it grows, sucking in energy from everything around me and even from other thoughts that are randomly circling around in my mind.  

Pretty soon, all I was thinking about was SIZE: not cars, or window stickers, just SIZE.  All the notions about size I'd ever heard of, or read about, or considered, began swirling together and drawing to them every other idea about size that is out there in the portion of the infinite I normally frequent.  

I let the mix whirl, watching from a step or two away, because I know the process works best when I pull myself out of the tornado of activity and wait for the results.  It didn't take long.  I heard the usual gong and the whirlwind stopped spinning and slowly dissipated, leaving the results written on the wall of my mind:

Size is a measure that is relative to the observer.  It shifts and changes as the observer shifts and changes.  To know the size of anything, ANYTHING, you must know two things: Who You Are and Where You Are.  Armed with that knowledge you will know the size of all things.

As I read the words, I thought of the ancient instruction, Know Thyself, and realized, that is the key to determining "actual size." It doesn't matter how much or how little of the information deluge civilization has created that you've absorbed.  All you need to know is yourself.

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