Dr. Paul Pearsall and his wife were attending a meeting in Rome, Italy. Their first stop was a tour of Vatican City. Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel had just been renovated. Dr. Pearsall and his wife waited for hours in line for a glimpse of this remarkable feat.
At a distance the paintings did not look all that impressive. People chattered and joked about a paint-by-number replica of Michelangelo’s work for their own ceilings. When they drew closer, however, they were overwhelmed. The paintings seemed to engulf them. Everyone became quiet. Necks ached with the effort to keep looking up. Now they were seeing the paintings as Michelangelo intended for them to be seen. The impact was unforgettable.
Then Dr. Pearsall noticed a fly crawling across the paintings. He thought, “What a shame. That fly is right up there where I would love to be. He’s right on top of it…but he just can’t see it.” Then Dr. Pearsall remembered reading the words of philosopher William Irwin Thompson:
“We are like flies crawling across the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel. We cannot see what angels and gods lie underneath the
threshold of our perceptions….”
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Paul Pearsall, Ph.D., MAKING MIRACLES (New York: Prentice Hall Press,