Considering Sight

I don’t consider myself stupid. That makes it easier to admit that I do stupid things every so often. So, feel free to sit back and enjoy this one but remember, “Be Kind.”

Not long ago, I worked through my morning routines. On this day, I was looking at a television screen rather than a laptop for my daily inspirational video. Finishing one cup of coffee, I got up and traveled to the kitchen for another.

Coming back, something was odd – wrong even. I felt calm, but my mind was taking me to very scary places at the same time. When looking at the screen, my left eye wasn’t cooperating very well. Was this leftover blurriness just the cloudiness of waking eyes or was something more sinister at play?

Attempts to ignore the abnormality failed.  I rubbed my eyes.  I applied eye drops. I did what thought reasonable, but the outcome had not changed. I thought perhaps I’ll wash my eyeglasses. Maybe there is something on the lens. 

I was having trouble even doing that.  It seemed that depth perception was also an issue. The hand-eye coordination needed to complete this simple task was not successful. 

This problem was not caused by a speck in my eye (I'm not being Biblical here). It was not left-over sleep rheum (gunk would be the common term). It was not a stroke. All this was caused by the fact that I had failed to notice that one lens had completely fallen out of the eyewear.  

And the ‘stupidity’ is revealed. 

This story has come to light today because I was reading another article about vision. The posting wasn’t about any kind of stupidity but simply spoke to anatomy and our reactions to our own physical makeup.

In the center of our face, between our eyes, we will find our partner for smell, the nose. This protrusion appears clearly when we look in a mirror. But what happens to our little face mountains when we’re driving? What happens when we’re talking to our boss?  What happens when we’re typing on a keyboard while reading the words on a monitor? 

In day-to-day interactions, our nose completely disappears. It’s there, but our brain just removes it from our sight line so that we can concentrate on other things. This is truly a good and amazing feature of our being.  Count this a blessing of extreme magnitude!

Side note: I fell out of a tree when I was a kid landing pointedly on my face. At maybe 10 years old, I created a whole new definition for the term, “bloody nose”.  An E.R. visit with someone familiar with needle and thread closed the wound while another with gauze and white tape sealed it from the contamination of air. 

I am very aware that the gauze and tape were white. For a couple of weeks, I could see little else. My brain could not manage to remove this much larger mountain from my field of vision. 

I inform my audience that looking around or over this protuberance was impossible.

Does our brain hide other things from us in addition to our noses?  Of course, it does. We could never think about everything, or we’d never be able to do anything. 

Decisions are made based on well, let’s call it averages. Our brain puts things in boxes so that when we need to choose, it allows us an overview of impressions and feelings while ignoring each individual memory. I think it might even focus on what we believe to be true rather than what might be true based on empirical data. 

We are complex.

There is no way to avoid the multitude of biases we each carry with us. The best we can manage is to recognize that we each carry a multitude of biases. 

When we navigate the world, it is good to remember (I'll say it again) that our maps are not the territory. 

As we move around this spinning blue ball called earth, we are continually making decisions that affect relationships, what being a Christian means, what is true or false, and even what's good or bad.

I think, for me, it's worth considering that perhaps some of these decisions are being made without the benefit of two intact lenses. It makes me think "that something is odd - wrong even". I also think the remedy is the same: 

• Rub your eyes.
• Use eye drops.
• Clean the lenses.

I need to do everything I can to lift the fog of not knowing what I don't know. 

I need to do everything I can to clear the path toward active listening and conduct diligent research. I need to prayerfully read the Bible, not for the reinforcement of my current beliefs but to find any missing lens. 

"Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. Matthew 13:9-16