the speaking tree - Learning To See With Inner Vision
Francis Gonsalves
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An old sage had become blind and could neither read nor recognise people who came to consult him.A doctor offered to cure him of his blindness. “There's no need of that,“ replied the sage, “I can see everything i need to see.“ Many of us have eyes that do not see reality as it truly is, and there are many , though physically blind, are blessed with insights that open our eyes to what we often fail to notice.Beyond the physical and emotional planes, eyes and eyesight belong to the common treasury of spiritual imagery .Since all our conceptualisations are limited by our human condition, our images of God are always anthropomorphic, meaning, we attribute to God albeit to an infinite degree qualities which are human. Thus, the Biblical God is omniscient: “The eyes of God are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good“ (Proverbs 15:3).
The first chapter of Genesis repeat edly asserts: “God saw“ that everything created was good. God's “seeing“ engenders divine nurturance and protection of people: “The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love“. But, God's eyes also detect evil and injustice, which are denounced. Interestingly , Indian popular art portrays Gods with big eyes; for they never fail to see! While God eternally oversees everything and everyone, human beings yearn to see God.This is expressed in Arjuna's humble plea to Lord Krishna: “I want to see your divine form“ (Bhagwad Gita, 11:3). He is then given a vishvarupa darshan a panoramic, mystical vision of t the universe. Likewise, in the Gospel, Apostle Philip asks spe Jesus, “Lord, show us the tr Father-God,“ and Jesus answers, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father-God“ (John 14:8-9).
Mahatmas and prophets are called `seers' because they possess illuminative insights into all of reality . They are gifted with mystical consciousness or a `third eye', so to say. In response to Arjuna's petition, Lord Krishna grants him the gift of a `divine eye' (divyam dadami te chakshu, Gita 11:8), to perceive the Universal Divine Form. Similarly , Jesus stresses that his disciples must have the “eye of faith“ to look, see, believe, love and serve.
Anybody reading this page is blessed with fairly good eyesight. Presumably, we all also possess sufficient `sight' in the sense of understanding what we see and read. However, life's experiences constantly challenge us to gain deeper `insights' into our own inner selves, human behaviour, historical processes, sociopol itical movements, cosmic currents and spiritual matters. Here, true `seers' are not swayed by superficial appearances of persons and things but venture to go higher, deeper, further, wider to see how all of creation mirrors the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent One.
Today , we increasingly live in an audio-visual world and communicate through cyberspace. We are bombarded with hundreds of images of people and places via internet, TV , computers and the like. But, are we truly wiser than our forebears who, due to limitations in transport and communication networks, hardly saw too much? Do we really `see' more than them?
In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God“ (Matthew 5:8). Just as the bottom of a pool can be seen if the water is pure and calm, so do goodhearted persons delve into the depths of reality seeing not what `appears to be' but what life truly `is'.
The first chapter of Genesis repeat edly asserts: “God saw“ that everything created was good. God's “seeing“ engenders divine nurturance and protection of people: “The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love“. But, God's eyes also detect evil and injustice, which are denounced. Interestingly , Indian popular art portrays Gods with big eyes; for they never fail to see! While God eternally oversees everything and everyone, human beings yearn to see God.This is expressed in Arjuna's humble plea to Lord Krishna: “I want to see your divine form“ (Bhagwad Gita, 11:3). He is then given a vishvarupa darshan a panoramic, mystical vision of t the universe. Likewise, in the Gospel, Apostle Philip asks spe Jesus, “Lord, show us the tr Father-God,“ and Jesus answers, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father-God“ (John 14:8-9).
Mahatmas and prophets are called `seers' because they possess illuminative insights into all of reality . They are gifted with mystical consciousness or a `third eye', so to say. In response to Arjuna's petition, Lord Krishna grants him the gift of a `divine eye' (divyam dadami te chakshu, Gita 11:8), to perceive the Universal Divine Form. Similarly , Jesus stresses that his disciples must have the “eye of faith“ to look, see, believe, love and serve.
Anybody reading this page is blessed with fairly good eyesight. Presumably, we all also possess sufficient `sight' in the sense of understanding what we see and read. However, life's experiences constantly challenge us to gain deeper `insights' into our own inner selves, human behaviour, historical processes, sociopol itical movements, cosmic currents and spiritual matters. Here, true `seers' are not swayed by superficial appearances of persons and things but venture to go higher, deeper, further, wider to see how all of creation mirrors the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent One.
Today , we increasingly live in an audio-visual world and communicate through cyberspace. We are bombarded with hundreds of images of people and places via internet, TV , computers and the like. But, are we truly wiser than our forebears who, due to limitations in transport and communication networks, hardly saw too much? Do we really `see' more than them?
In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God“ (Matthew 5:8). Just as the bottom of a pool can be seen if the water is pure and calm, so do goodhearted persons delve into the depths of reality seeing not what `appears to be' but what life truly `is'.
