Looking Up

Today's prompt: "Comment on this: If you cannot find a way out, look up."

When I read this, I get this mental image of a giant grave dug in the ground. The earthen walls are straight and perfect, like a house's; inescapable. The person is in this hole; this grave that he's dug with his own actions. The saying "hit rock bottom" also comes into this picture. He's in so deep that there's no escaping on his own. Pure darkness closes in around and he's about to be swallowed alive with despair. Then he looks up. At first the sky looks just as dark as his prison. But slowly, the stars begin to shine; millions of them. They set the sky ablaze with pin points of brilliant white light. The radiance of them floods him and his prison walls. His shadow falls crisp and black behind him; but his face shines with the same white light from above. Suddenly, although he's still in this hole, he's no longer a prisoner. He's been set free.

Once the image fades from my mind, the next thing I do is think about what the saying could mean. I instantly make the connection of "look up" to turning to God. To me, this saying captures the concept of trying so hard for so long to do things on your own, but eventually you realize that it's not good enough. You're too weak to deal with all of these troubles. Then panic sets in as you realize that all your mistakes and problems are about to suffocate you, trapping you in a cage of worry. Then you look up. You turn to God and let go of all these things you've been hanging on to with white knuckled fists. You surrender control to the maker of the universe. The weight is lifted and the darkness fades, and you realize that you should've looked up in the first place, instead of striking out on your own. The phrase seems to say that you should look up after you've tried all other options of escape; but I think, perhaps, that's the first thing we should do. Then we wouldn't become trapped in the first place. 

Kagaya

Also, one more thing this saying makes me think of. For some reason it brings to mind a poem I wrote a long time ago, but the strange thing is that this saying is about hope. The poem is about hopelessness. It's pretty dark, lots of my poems are. They usually are the best ones; truthful and honest. My soul undressed of the normal masks that keep me out of mental hospitals. Like Cole said in The Sixth Sense;

"I draw... people smiling, dogs running, rainbows. They don't have meetings about rainbows."

The poem is actually where the mental image for this saying comes from, only there's light in the mental image. The stars are missing in the poem.

This Grave I've Dug 

 

Chains, heavy as lead

I choke with the lies I am fed

Prisoner of my own will,

This grave I dug will soon fill

The light is gone

No longer is there song

I lift my eyes, but all is black

Oh, that I could have my freedom back!

A whisper, my name, a loving call

“Here I am!” I speak to a wall.