Looking at the World Through the Eyes of Our Heart and Soul

Not the Rose Coloured Glasses We Usually Use

H/t Socon or Bust

Steve G. over at Socon has been finding some interesting things to post about, things that get us to thinking, which is good for us, right?

Well, I think so, and appreciate what he found and posted today about how we have eyes in our body that see certain things, and there is the eye of our heart and soul that sees deeper.  We have a tendency to wander through our lives without depth perception.  We look at only what we can see, and ignore what we can't, because . . . well out of sight is out of mind.  But to ignore what we don't see just because we don't see it, is to give too much power to our powers of observation, and well. . . we must be out of our minds to do that.

Here are some brilliant words from Frank Sheed’s excellent book “Theology for Beginners” that help explain much of the confusion and strife we see in our world today:

Consider one thing only. You cannot use anything intelligently until you know what it is made for. Science cannot tell you what the universe was made for; only its Maker can do that – because he knows what he had in mind when he made it.

And it is not only the whole universe that we see wrong if we leave out God. We do not see any single thing right. God is at the centre of the being of each individual thing, giving it the existence it has, keeping it in existence. To see anything – yourself, for instance – without in the same act seeing God holding it in existence is to be living in a world of fantasy, not the real world.

You see a coat hanging on a wall; with the eyes of your body you do not see the hook, because the hook is under the coat; but with the eyes of your mind you see the hook, all right. Supposing you did not; it would mean that you thought the coat was hanging on the wall by its own power. You would be wrong about the nature of coats, the nature of walls, the law of gravity. You would be living in wonderland. If the failure to see so small a thing as a hook means a deranged universe, how much more the failure to see God – on whom everything depends, including the hook.

God is not just a sublime extra. It is not that we see the same things as other people, plus God. Even the things we and they both see do not look the same, and in fact are not the same. Think of the physical landscape at sunrise; it is not that you see the same hills and trees and houses as before, and now you see the sun as well. The sun is not just one more item; you see everything sun-bathed. God is not just one more item; we must see everything God-bathed. Only then are we seeing everything as it is.

Of course it is not only a question of seeing; this truth affects our actions too. Sin, for instance, is an effort to gain something against the will of God; but the will of God is all that holds us in existence; when we sin, we are hacking away at our only support. What could be more idiotic? The realization may not prevent us from sinning; but it ensures that we shall feel fools while doing it. God’s will is the only law for sane people. (Pages 51-52)