^{Photo by Nathan Martins}

Julius Mosley II mentions people unconsciously living blindly about how they should live life with the thought of what happens after death. In his book Living Life with Blinders On, he uses the statement as a metaphor for people’s vision being limited from what’s truly important.

Now that another year has come, it’s high time for people to fall nostalgic about how life was for them. There was one thing that truly fascinated me more than anything else whenever I looked back on my childhood. Back then, a carriage drawn by horses was a popular means of transportation, and I remember trying it once, thinking that the whole ride felt magical, despite it taking place within subpar areas.

However, their sheer strength wasn’t what caught my entire interest. Instead, it was their demeanor and how they looked “on duty.” These horses always had something covering their eyes that unknowing passengers would probably be alerted about since it would look like the horses won’t be able to see anything. Blinkers or blinders were what they were called. Horses wore them so they’d be focused, pay attention on the road, and not be distracted by what’s around them. These blinders benefit not only them but also their passengers. Since horses are easily frightened, it would be best if their sights were limited when carrying passengers to places.

Isn’t it amazing how easily people came up with these contraptions to address specific issues? Simply from knowing that horses are easily spooked, they came up with the idea of creating blinders for them.

However, the whole point of this article isn’t to highlight the origin of blinders and their uses. I felt like recalling this memory because I came across a book that uses the imagery of a horse with blinders but applies it to a different context. Again, humans and the wonderful way how our brain functions, right?

In Julius Mosley’s Living Life with Blinders On, he incorporates this concept and associates it with humans. As a book breaking down the Bible’s content, his primary focus was on explaining it to people the idea of living life as God intended. He provided better examples, painting clearer pictures of what God wanted to convey through His words.

However, beyond the Bible, Mosley also mentions how people seem with blinders on.

For me, this could mean two things. One is that we live our lives differently than God would have wanted us to. As blinders can limit vision, Mosley could have used this to tackle the fact that sometimes, it’s easy for us to ignore or let slip what God has truly given us. Two, living with blinders can mean that we’re only focused on receiving God’s wisdom, shunning worries, fears, and the “what-ifs” our minds create to distract us from our lives’ missions.

To elaborate on point one, like horses, living with blinders on for us also leads to focus, away from diversions and distractions from our goals. With blinders on, we’re determined to chase after our dreams without stopping until we reach them. We’ve planted seedlings in our brains and pushed ourselves to help them sprout successfully.

While this is how life should be, one with a purpose and goal, it isn’t how life should be solely pursued. The problem lies in the fact that we’ve fallen victim to focusing on the wrong things. Mosley states that we often tend to live only in pursuit of our earthly desires and goals, overlooking what truly matters: life after death.

For animals, blinders mean allowing no distractions to distract their attention from tasks. Mosley uses the extreme end of the equation for us humans. Instead of simply for focus, blinders are a means of blindness or ignorance for us, which, in a way, is also a correct metaphor. Compared to its positive purpose with horses, Mosley uses this blinder imagery in a negative light for humans.

And who can blame him?

For most people, practicality is a priority. While living kindly and always understanding of others are still significant, they deem that these can’t provide food on their tables. The end justifies the means. Regardless of how they do it, as long as they maintain their lifestyles and provide necessities for themselves and their families, they’re okay. Most people are ridden with ambitions that they’ve forgotten what truly matters.

On the other hand, the second point is where we should strive to become: to have complete trust in God that we subconsciously reflect His word in our lives. With blinders, we can block anyone’s word before hearing and keeping His close to our hearts. This means our attention is only directed to His word and trust in His plans for us.