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Through My Eyes

If we choose to liberate ourselves from prejudices, to become more compassionate and aware, we can practice honing our eyesight to look past the superficial, into another's heart and soul.

Enjoying and appreciating the arts or literature is subjective. We like something, or we don't. Oftentimes we approach with a preconceived notion -- we have an aversion to abstract art, we are disinclined toward poetry or the opera, we dislike war movies. What if we availed ourselves of a new philosophy: whatever we inherently disapprove of is precisely what we will investigate with intention? By visiting a museum on a docent tour, attending the opera or a poetry reading with someone who savors the art form, or reading the biography of a playwright before experiencing his or her play, we enjoy a moment via someone else's insights and passion. We absorb new understanding and enlightenment. We broaden our interests and have a greater appreciation for the creative world in which we live.

I recall reading "King Lear" as a sophomore in high school. I had never read Shakespeare before and just didn't get it. When the teacher read aloud, I have a distinct recollection of gazing out the window at the gray Seattle sky and being caught up in the beauty of the ebb and flow of the lines, the almost musical rhythms of Shakespeare's verse. But the meaning escaped me. It seemed as foreign as my beginning French class -- until we took a field trip to see the play performed live. At the onset, the actors stepped out of character to describe the social and political environment of Shakespeare's world and a brief overview of each character's motivations -- and I got it. 

Occasionally, as our movie group exits the theater on a Friday evening, I may express disappointment or outright distaste for the movie. Sometimes my friends concur, sometimes not. If I find I am in the minority, I listen to everyone else's experience and then I examine my own: Was I distracted by a bad mood, an argument with my husband, an on-coming cold, a prejudice against the subject matter? If I have the time and inclination, I may see the movie a second time. More often than not, I have a far greater appreciation for the film because of an open mind and new insights.

Almost every iconic, creative individual in history has left behind thoughts regarding the importance of remaining child-like -- "growing young" -- throughout the course of their lives. From Antigonus in 300 BC to Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein to Bob Dylan, we hear words resonating that there is something profound to be rediscovered, something that can catapult us into new awareness, freedom and joy: by experiencing our lives with youthful wonder and awe, appreciating every moment, living full of love and free of prejudice and shame, and rekindling the purity, the innocence of our creative spirit.

Children live in a heightened state of awareness -- every sound, taste, sight, tactile sense and smell is stimulating and new. I love the challenge of attempting to experience moments in each day as though they were my first -- and last.

I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: use your eyes as if tomorrow you will have been stricken blind.