Social Autism

Did you ever find yourself walking along a somewhat narrow sidewalk and several people are coming toward you, walking side by side and talking to one another?  You wait for them to make some room for you to have a piece of the sidewalk.  They do not.  They make as if you don't exist.  You step off into the street and turn sideways.  You stand there.  They do not see you even then.  They just continue on their self-absorbed way.  It is what I call "social autism."  Someone or something is there right in front of you, but you do not see it.  It is more than ignoring.  It is the inability to see another person or situation in plain view.

The opposite is to see the face of God, or in my religion, the face of Christ, in everyone I pass.  This is a stretch.  I know.  I try it when out walking.  Trying to see the face of Christ or the Holy Presence, in each person is like a wave that goes up against my natural tendency to judge, or compare, or to ignore.  My first instinct is to compare and contrast.  At times, when I am self-absorbed, I simply ignore a person.  My belief system says everyone is made from the same Divine cloth.  I work at it.  It beats social autism.