It is the painting on the ceiling of that lobby.

Beautifully painted across the entire ceiling is a detailed zodiac. While the details are accurate and stunning, the general picture is flawed. It is backward.

When noticing the mistake they also noticed that it was too big to fix. So they came up with a better idea.

They said it was painted from a unique angle: It is the way G-d sees it -- from above.

* * *

They come in all shapes and sizes and are celebrated in various ways. Turn around and there is another one at your doorstep. There is never a dull moment three hundred and sixty five days a year, and it’s been this way for thousands of years.

There are those you can count on, they’ll be here the same time each week. Others are less frequent but they’ll be here at least once a month. Then there are those that we anticipate as we approach their time. We clean our homes in its honor, or count the days until its arrival. We can purify our souls before its onset, or erect a shelter for its celebration. Some have come from Sinai, some have come from sages, but all have come to be part of our lives.

What does seeing double, blurred and maybe even backwards, have to do with happiness?

So important is joy on Purim that Jewish law actually requires one to be in a state of mind where he cannot distinguish between “blessed is Mordechai” and “cursed is Haman.” More shocking than that, at least to some, is that the Rabbis suggest and permit drinking as a means of arriving at that state.

Now while we all understand the need for joy, some might have difficulty comprehending the call for such extreme joy. What really tickles the sober mind is how blurring the lines, both figuratively and literally, between good and evil, equals true joy. What does seeing double, blurred and maybe even backwards, have to do with happiness.

I therefore suggest another L’chaim and henceforward you will have no problem with the exact calculations for what equals what. But for those who remain skeptical, let me try to explain in words what this ecstatic feeling of joy ought to bring about, and how we seem to get there. (But please say L’chaim; this gets tricky.)

Normal is relative. (One benefit of seeing things backward is that at least on Purim even your "relative" is normal.) Consequently, backwards and blurred are also relative terms. What then is the "normal" way for things to be! (Are you getting dizzy yet?)

We live in a world where it is easier to miss school than to actually attend. It is more pleasurable to begin smoking than to quit. It is simpler to get ill than to be cured. Immorality is more tempting than decent living, and G-d is questionable while we are more than certain of our own existence and personal needs. And this is called sober.

As if the natural state of things isn’t depressing enough, our inner conflict can easily add more strife. In order to break free of these inhibitions, we need to experience joy. In order to experience joy, we need our eyes to see what our soul feels. This is no easy task.

How? Through tapping into the supernatural, hoping to affect the natural, and naturally seeing nature in a supernatural way. We want to see double: the miracle in nature. We wish to utilize a day when miracles were ‘blurred’ into nature, and blur the novelty of that day into every day.

Purim is the perfect opportunity for this enlightenment. The miracle of Purim was very much cloaked in, and concealed by, the forces of nature. So it depends on you. You can choose to see a natural chain of events; how dull. Or you can watch G-d’s plan unfold; that’s the ‘spirit’. You could analyze it ‘naturally’ as an historic event; but you are going ‘backwards’ in time. Or you could see this concept as ‘absolute,’ acknowledging the constant miracle in nature; thus moving along with the times.

On Purim we blur the blur, melting the borders between the many, and we once again see one

When a single object is blurred it appears to be more than one; when many things are blurred they appear to be one. The state of the world is usually a blur and instead of seeing One – G-d – we see many. On Purim we blur the blur, melting the borders between the many, and we once again see one.

In science they say that beneath it all, we are all the same. We are all atoms. In Judaism we have been saying this before science was even a thought. Beneath it all we are all the same, all one. Everything around us, ourselves included, is G-dliness.

All year round we can merely study this abstract idea, but we must act in accordance to nature, treating some things as good, yet some as evil. On Purim we wish to feel that which we have studied all year round.

How is this achieved? Well, they say two people don’t lie: one who is insane, and one who is drunk. It is well known that under the influence, things that are usually deep in one’s consciousness are now at the tip of his tongue. Thus to one whose world is run by many factors, when he drinks he sees double. However, to one whose world is ruled by one G-d, and he drinks solely to fulfill the will of that one G-d, he sees One. L’chaim!

* * *

Some times it takes seeing things in reverse to see it in its true form. The way G-d sees it.