SPIRITUALITY & WELLNESS
Connecting the Dots
Lloyd Den Boer
Remember “ connect-the-dots ” puzzles from our childhood ? They were simple , a few dots scattered across otherwise blank sheets of paper .
The dots appeared to be randomly distributed , but they were numbered . As children drew lines from number one to number two , and on and on until the last number was reached , the outlines of images slowly came into view . Children were enchanted , not so much by the images , as by the way they emerged from unlikely material . Who knew that random dots could hide the images of butterflies , bunnies , or even toads ? “ Connect-the-dots ” puzzles were little mysteries .
Adults like uncovering hidden pictures behind apparently random bits of information just as much as children do . When we find ourselves in animated discussions , perhaps about our public institutions , our politics , or some group in our society , and when we cannot convince others that something pernicious is developing beyond public notice , we may insist that they “ connect the dots .” That is , we ask them to follow our lead in linking one bit of public information to another bit of public information , and then to another , until a
picture of goings on that do not meet our approval emerges from the whole . That sort of discovery offers a certain kind of pleasure .
At times , situations demand that we connect dots in just this way . After all , when investigators “ follow the money ” to uncover a crime , they are linking visible bits of information to disclose hidden wrongdoing . On the other hand , the behaviours of our public institutions , our politicians , groups in our society , or even our neighbours are not mysteries to be solved as simply as children ’ s puzzles . Using numbers to connect the dots is one thing ; connecting the same dots without the numbers is more difficult . So difficult , in fact , that without the numbers , we might not agree which images are suggested by the same set of dots . Where some of us find a butterfly , others of us might find a toad . Sometimes a random set of dots is no more than a random set of dots . Despite all our desire to find one , no image is hidden there . Sometimes the
20 | arta . net CONNECTING THE DOTS