ONE HEARTFUL THING #3 : The art of seeing
Two Quick Quotes To Inspire New Sight
“The question is not what to do but how to see. Seeing is the most important thing -- the act of seeing.
I need to realize that it is truly an act, an action that brings something entirely new, a new possibility of vision, certainty and knowledge… It is only in this act of seeing that I will find a certain freedom…
…Seeing does not come from thinking. It comes from the shock at the moment when, feeling an urgency to know what is true, I suddenly realize that my thinking mind cannot perceive reality. To understand what I really am at this moment, I need sincerity and humility, and an unmasked exposure that I do not know. This would mean to refuse nothing, exclude nothing, and enter into the experience of discovering what I think, what I sense, what I wish, all at this very moment.
Our conditioned thought always wants an answer. What is important is to develop another thinking, a vision…
--Jeanne de Salzmann, from "The Reality of Being"
Another word for this way of seeing is called contemplation which many describe as taking a long, loving look at the real.
A great-great-great grandparent many times over and proponent of this kind of seeing, Origen of Alexandria, offers an explanation of contemplation as a way of seeing reality and ourselves and each other with the heart, with the eyes of love.
It's truly divine sight. Seeing with the eyes that G-d sees us. When we see with the eyes of the heart, with the eyes of Love, what we see then is wholeness and beauty as well as pain and wounding. We can also see the potential for healing to happen. We get to participate in making things whole.
The art of seeing invites us to participate in the whole-making of ourselves and the world.
“Christianity must indeed begin again from the very beginning if it is to meet its high educative task. So long as religion is only faith and outward form, and …not experienced in our own souls, nothing of any importance has happened…The man who does not know this from his own experience may be a most learned theologian, but he has no idea of religion and still less of education… theologians fail to see that it is not a matter of proving the existence of the light, but of blind people who do not know that their eyes could see. It is high time that we realize it is pointless to praise the light and preach it if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to teach people the art of seeing.”
--C.G. Jung, CW 12: para.13,14
With you as we learn to see anew,
xo Mary
I believe most true Evangelicals would agree, but would say that true faith is itself an inward experience. "Seeing" is like Jesus' "hearing." He said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." He was talking about spiritual inward hearing, receiving with humility the Word of God. When Jesus spoke about being "born again," he was meaning a spiritual rebirth, brought on by the working of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, many people have turned being "born again" into a prescribed ritual that has become more to do with praying a certain prayer and less with a truly inner spiritual experience. On the other hand, people can turn "seeing" into a religion too. Anything can become religious and outward if we are trying to imitate the religious experiences of other people. However, I agree that humility, recognizing one's "blindness" and honest seeking after the things of God will bring us true spiritual "sight."
A beautiful reminder! An ongoing, daily, imperfect process for me.