Seeing.....

The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. (Marcel Proust)

This quote speaks to me. In every moment what we see of things is directed by the eyes we look at things with. We may watch the news with prejudiced eyes. Certain tragic events and happenings will not have great meaning for us because we do not fancy the folk experiencing them. We will think, ‘they were asking for it.’ We may look at the same piece of news with despairing eyes. The events will seem like another nail in the coffin of our despair, more proof that all is not ok with this world. We may look at this news with curious eyes, taking in the facts and figures and marveling at them as at a particularly interesting creature in the zoo. No feelings will come into this sight. We may look at this series of events with disinterested eyes. Only partially taking note of what is happening and more fully thinking of what we are going to cook for dinner. Or we may look at this news with compassionate eyes. We may feel the suffering of our neighbours without judgment and we may even shed a tear or two. We may also look with closed eyes and see but not take in, because we have seen it all before. Not remembering a second or two later what we actually did see. We may look with caring eyes, seeing acutely what there is to see, having no judgment, determining to do what we can to alleviate the suffering of these others.

We may look at our husbands, children and friends with the same numerous possibilities of eyes. We may look at our life and the events that occur in it, in the same way. The challenge of course is to know which way you are looking at things, which stance you are carrying into your sight. Perhaps you are angry and disgruntled because you have had an over busy day and you are looking at a small misdemeanor as if were a big one, perhaps you are sad and despairing because nothing has worked out just as you would have liked on this day and you see what is only a small rearrangement of your routine as a major setback. Perhaps you yell at the shop assistant for her mistake because you feel pushed for time and are afraid someone else might yell at you when you arrive late to a meeting. You may decide to stay home and miss out on an opportunity for fun because all you can see is the huge effort you need to make to get ready. You may miss a warm and cosy evening at home with loved ones because you are upset at some ill chosen word they used without malice and are isolating yourself heedlessly.

In any instance our sight is clouded by the glasses we wear, the baggage we carry, the ideas we have nurtured, the prejudices we choose. To come to a moment, any moment with new eyes…the open non-judging eyes of an infant is to allow that moment to be exactly what it is. How much would change for all of us if we could do this? I am thinking it is important to try…..because every moment on this earth is a gift and the folk that share it with us are all our brothers and sisters…and those we intimately love deserve our very best….perhaps we can begin by looking at ourselves with eyes of care and awareness, we can have mindful eyes.

We can be reflective and thoughtful with our seeing and begin to understand our world and our loved ones better. Most of all we can learn to wipe the fear from our sight, because fear is counterproductive and only sees the perceived threat in almost everything it alights on, which in turn tempers our behaviour in a disparaging way.

The dictionary says that eyesight is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision. On this note we should remember that light is illuminating not ignorant and that to have vision is to see beyond the mundane. Our immediate emotional baggage is mundane, it lowers our stance by its weight and takes our eyes away from the light for which one needs to look up.

Wabi-sabi is an ancient Japanese philosophy with roots in Zen, revering austerity, nature and the everyday. Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect." It suggests we see beauty in a simple form and in imperfection; that we choose to see the light/beauty, by seeing that the seeing of everything must contain an element of light.

A good example is the Japanese tea ceremony, a simple Zen ritual for making and sharing a cup of tea. The Wabi-sabi simple tea ceremony has tea served in locally fired bowls and flowers in fishermen’s baskets. Wood and bamboo replace porcelain, and lacquer and hospitality are more valued than pretension as the height of taste. Another example is that of a little monk in his torn robe, enjoying a night by the fire, content in his poverty. Wabi-sabi grew in popularity in 15th-century Japan, as people grew war-weary, and the upper classes grew tired of conspicuous consumption. Simplicity took on a new nobility. And no matter how much wealth they had, everyone in Japan could make and share a cup of tea. Right now we also live in a largely over consumptive and war weary world...at least much of the western world can be classed in this way. What we see when we look is clouded by this reality. We can be simpler and what we see can be sweeter when we learn to value a simple act, a simple life, a simple sight.

Perhaps as we look into the eyes of another today we can simply choose to be simple and share a cup of tea.

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one; each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle. (Paulo Coelho)