Eyes that See

Here is another paper that I am posting - mostly because I will know where to find it again some day.  But I do hope one day to become someone whose eyes truly see.

The eyes, they say, are the windows to the soul.  Are they also, then, the soul’s window to the world?  If so, just what is it that my soul is seeing?  Is it seeing things clearly – things as they really are?  Or is it seeing things darkly – as through a window that needs to be cleaned?

We know that we are composite beings.  We are not merely body or spirit.  We are both: body and spirit joined together; living souls.  We came to earth to continue a war which began in the premortal realms – a war of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and error, natural and divine.  Sometimes this war requires combat with external forces.  But often the war is an internal struggle, fought in the silent chambers of the heart and mind.  The war, for each of us, is largely a personal battle of the spiritual against the physical; of the man of God against the natural man.  Certainly it would seem that our eyes would be one of our greatest assets in this fight – for if we see danger we can avoid it.  Yet, just as our natures are dualistic, our vision can be, too.  We can look with natural eyes, or we can look with spiritual ones.  And the information sent to our soul from each kind of looking is very different. 

Natural eyes see flaws and search for weaknesses in others.  They see others as competitors or enemies.  They lead us to unrighteous judgment, materialism, pride, and poor self-image.  They are easily fixed on the superficial.  They see our beauty or lack thereof.  They see the size of our house, the size of our wallet, the size of our waist.  They see in labels: liberal, conservative, Jew, Gentile, gentry, peasant.  They see others more as objects than children of God.  They look at the short-term and temporary, focusing on wants rather than needs.  They see all that is wrong and unfair.  Natural eyes are eyes that seeing, see not. 

In opposition to natural eyes, spiritual eyes look beyond the superficial.  They are discerning and help us to avoid places where we will be left to ourselves, and, consequently, left vulnerable and weak.  They see suffering as an opportunity to help others.  They look through and into other’s eyes – into the portals of their soul.  They are eyes that seek to understand and empathize.  They are eyes that see through flaws and imperfections to the potential behind.  They are eyes that “look not on the outward appearance” but on the heart. They are eyes that recognize the beauties and blessings in everything.  They lead us to humility, gratitude, and love.  

In our daily battles, things are not always black or white.  We don’t usually see solely with natural eyes or purely with spiritual ones.  Each day, our eyes are waging war just as surely as our souls.  Our natural eyes fight to keep our focus on the milk that has been spilled, while our spiritual eyes try to direct us to the frightened little spirit looking up at us, hoping that they will be assured instead of reprimanded.  Each day, in all that we see, we are striving to subdue the tendencies of the natural man – to let it be mastered and tempered by the divinity within.  We are striving to see with our spiritual eyes - eyes that see with forgiveness and compassion; eyes that see the good; and, above all, eyes that seek to do God’s will.  Well might we plead with the poet that the Lord will “touch our eyes that we may see.”  For as we begin to see spiritually, our hearts and souls are purified.  As our hearts and souls are purified, we see more purely.  We are filled with light and begin to see as God sees. 

We read in the book of Matthew that the pure in heart are blessed, for they will see the face of God.  As we strive to see with spiritual eyes, we will find that this promise is not only the promise of some future day.  We will find that we can see the face of God every day – for we will see it in every face we encounter.  The light that radiates from us will color all we look upon with a beauty both eternal and divine.  We will see in others the seeds of Godhood – seeds which were always there, but seeds to which our eyes once were blind. 

Image by Riccardo Cuppini