June 4--So Much More Than What We See

June 4


Food for Thought:

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Today's Meditation:

I've been taught my whole life long to see with my eyes, to trust only what I see, to believe everything that my eyes tell me is true.  What a joke that's become--if I had the chance, I'd fire all the teachers who ever taught me that (and I'm not talking school teachers, either!).  Too many people want us to believe that the most important element of our lives is the observable, yet really, very little could be further from the truth.

There is so much more to our lives than what we can see and hear, so much more that we can feel and experience from our hearts and spirits.  This body is a beautiful and amazing instrument, but it is limited in how it lets us experience our world.  It doesn't tell us that another person needs comfort, it doesn't feel the joy of an early-morning walk when the sun is rising, it can't distinguish between concepts such as compassion and trust and love and peace and wonder and acceptance.  Not even our brains can do that, as wonderfully crafted as they are.

There is much that is invisible to the eye, but that is still knowable to the heart.  Our realities are not fashioned by what we see with our eyes, but by what we feel with our hearts.  If we feel that we are poor, we will create a reality that keeps us poor.  If we feel that we are fortunate, our realities--the ones that come from our hearts--will be realities that constantly bring us good fortune.

Don't forget what others have taught you.  After all, there is much of value in it.  But do take it with a grain of salt, and don't believe it fully until you test it out for yourself.  Our eyes are fantastic, but the world that they present to us is at least half illusion--what we see isn't always what it there.  That rude and obnoxious man could be a hurting and sorrowful man.  Let your heart do much of your seeing for you, and you'll discover a new world, right there in the midst of the one you've always thought you've known.

Questions to consider:

Why are people so willing to believe that the world is just what their eyes tell them it is?

How might we go about "seeing" with our hearts?  What would be the benefits of doing so?

Who are the people who have taught you the most?  Thinking very honestly, have their teachings opened up your perspectives, or limited them?


For further thought:

Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change
what you see, only the way you see it.

Thaddeus Golas