The Forest and the Trees

'Can't see the forest for the trees' describes an inability to grasp a larger pattern unifying several items that one is perceiving. But the converse is also a shortcoming, perhaps better expressed in different imagery, say, 'can't see the blades of grass for the lawn', which is an inability to appreciate nuanced detail. The underlying cognitive problem is that while one may be able to perceive the trees severally, and be able to perceive the forest, accomplishing both simultaneously seems impossible. Despite this difficulty, we still manage to comprehend the reality of the existence of both the forest and the trees, and, so, to conclude that they are actually two descriptions of the same phenomenon. Why such a conclusion is noteworthy becomes plainer when a similar analysis is applied to another constituent of reality, the human being. It, too, can be regarded as both a Unity and a Multiplicity, or, more specifically, a Soul and a Body. But instead of these being left as two sides of the same coin, they are often treated as existing in separate existential realms, even such that a Soul is taken as capable of surviving the death of the corresponding Body. Likewise, the oneness of the universe is often detached from its parts, and then exalted into a transcendently existing deity. Perhaps where this deity and souls reside is in some treeless forest.