Bette Midler: From a Distance Meaning

Song Released: 1990

From a Distance Lyrics

From A Distance"

From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Aug 23rd 2011 report

   It simply means that God sees things through His eyes where love and peace exist. It means that He wants to restore things to how they appear from a distance.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 22nd 2011 report

   This song describes how the world looks so perfect and wonderful from far away (a distance). On the avareage, there is no suffering and war and disease, because there are enough people that are happy and well to cancel out the bad. But at the end, the lyrics state that God watches us from a distance. He only sees the good and perfect. This means that humans can see the pain and suffering and ugly of the world, not God. This means that humans must alleviate pain and help others. Not sit back and wait for God to take care of things for us.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   m320753

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   Mar 4th 2011 report

   this also is a two fold answer . 1st it seems to say that from far away we are all the same and it's not til we get closer do our discriminations come apparent. to God looking down on the earth , He doesn't see race. He doesn't see sin nor rich or poor . He sees His children who all have a chance to ask for forgiveness and gain salvation. the hungry, the poor, the sick and more will all be savedif they offer the suffering up to Him.
4. anonymous

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   Mar 12th report

   I can only hear that God thinks everything in the world is fine because he's watching us from a distance and cant see the pain and suffering.
5. anonymous

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   Jan 27th report

   We all know there is so much that is going wrong with civilisation because we are so close to it and we see it daily.
   We don't want to know about the problems so WE pretend to be 'watching from a distance'
   WE NEED TO GET OFF OUR BACKSIDES AND FIX THE PRPBLEMS WHILE WE ARE HERE.
   
6. anonymous

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   Nov 20th report

   It's funny how some people are interpretating the song as delusional to a person who only sees from a distance,but in reality,when you(and I mean you
7. anonymous

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   Nov 12th report

   I find this song annoying. It seems to implore us to squint when we look at the world so as not to see reality.
   When I listen to the song I see "God" sitting on a couch eating bonbons, saying 'You're fine! Stop bothering me!'
   Musically, the song is beautiful, especially when Bette sings it, just don't listen to the words.
8. anonymous

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   Jun 16th 2022 report

   this is a song about our need for the Divine in our daily lives which is missing since we've turned against him all the way back to Early times and culminating in the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem he withdrew himself or herself from our presence but is still watching over us and is very interested and intervenes as needed but from a distance their used to be a piece of God in all of us and we could commune with him in various ways and now that's been withdrawn so that very few have that privilege but he still watches us but not within us.
9. anonymous

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   Jan 6th 2021 report

   The song is sung beautifully by Ms. Midler, and it is beautiful musicaly. However the lyrics should either be taken satirically or one must be horrified!
   
   Yes from a distance everything looks perfect...grass is always greener. But to live one's life with such a mindset is delusional and self deceptive. Looking from means you are a part of the problem, not the solution.
   
   I was horrified when the senior class council voted this song as the "song of the year" and it was played at commencement (way back in '99).
   
   I refuse to look from a distance. Show me the issues, let me see it all...so I can be a part of the solution.
10. anonymous

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    Dec 30th 2020 report

    This song is a subtle deception. It doesn’t deny the existence of God but He seems powerless or unconcerned of what are happening on earth. The truth is God came to the world and dwelt among us, John 1:14
11. anonymous

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    Apr 8th 2020 report

    The world from a distance looks good and everything looks harmoniously cool yet its the opposit. God who is all knowing gives human the opportunity to make the world what they want but he watches from a distance coz he willjudge everyone for their actions,
    at the end.
12. anonymous

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    Mar 31st 2020 report

    Dumb song...everybody thinks its beautiful
    But listen to the words. Its like God is completely seperate from us and doesn't intervene at all. We have free will, but God does intervene and he is right here always.People are stupid and don't even listen to what the words are saying.
13. anonymous

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    Jun 4th 2018 report

    Looking at anything from afar can show another angle; more possibilities become clear, and like in this song, it can fuel our eternal hope for peace. But up close, we see the dark reality of what we actually do and don't do. So lets get to bringing peace, eradication wars, and saving each other, and our planet. I happen to like the image of the god we have created being one that watches from far off. It has the dual effect of feeling we are being watched over in a caring way, and at the same time It reminds us that it is our job to create peace and live in respect of all creatures big and small.
14. anonymous

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    Apr 17th 2018 report

    In human eyes from a distance the world is beautiful, no pain, no suffering, but from a distance god is watching us.
15. anonymous

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    Mar 9th 2016 report

    I think the interpretation is two dimensional. The traditional God of religion does not perceive us through lens of reality -- our humanity is betrayed by the idealism of that creation. It is anti-human. Philosophically, the symbolic God which is a representation of the best, healthiest potentials which lie within each human is a place where idealism is a future of hope -- what can be. The future is a place where potential can be realized and it is a distant horizon. It is a place where all we hope and dream and truly share in common in each human bosom by our very nature can become truth. It is the balanced edge of the two potentials -- to be buried in what may seem safer and more defined falsehoods or to be open to seeing reality with unflinching rawness and hope for what can be in spite of what is.
16. anonymous

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    Feb 28th 2016 report

    The song means that god is unable or unwiling to concern himself with human suffering and that the world is only a good place if you view it blindly from a distance as god does.

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