The Long Eye: Sight Meditation and the Future

Last updated on: April 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm by Melissa Hill

The Long Eye: Sight Meditation and the Future 2015-04-16T16:42:00-04:00 Melissa Hill

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“People see what they wish to see. And in most cases, what they are told to see.”

–Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

To see is an essential part of existence for most of humanity. We constantly look and take in visual information, only when we close our eyes do we shut off this vast river of input. As an artist I think a lot about what I see. I know that much of my job is to simplify visual input and organize it in pleasing or useful ways. There is the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, and I imagine there might be some writers out there who would happily argue that point. But unfortunately, maxims and clichés exist because there is truth to them.

So let us consider a meditation on sight.

First a bit of background: as a druid and a farmer as well as an artist, and I think a lot about how humans interact with the non-human. I read a fascinating book called Sight and Sensibility by Laura Sewall many years ago. She is a researcher into cognitive psychology who has become a researcher into ecopsychology. If you don’t recognize that term I wouldn’t be overly surprised, it’s a rather new branch of psychology that argues that human psychology evolved within a matrix of non-human input and species and that we should consider that as part of pathology and optimal development of the human psyche. In Sewall’s book she talks about going to Africa. In her journeys on that continent she disovers, to her shock, that she no longer needs her prescription glasses for near-sightedness. Her long distance vision had improved vastly while she viewed the wide-open spaces of the savanna. When she returned home to the United States her vision again deteriorated. This drove her to think about how our environment affects our selves. When she had the opportunity to look out on the wide vistas she could see, but when she came back to the closed in walls and cities here, she could not.

We laugh at our “first world problems” the cell phone trap at the restaurant table, the struggle to live our lives, but we downplay the significance of these things. We are animals, just as much as a fox or an otter. We are animals who have kenneled our selves, tied our collars tight to the side of the walls. We walk our days seeing human things; surrounded by our own ideas like a strange variant of Being John Malkovich. We have built ourselves a very pretty prison. But lets face it: I’m not jumping ship and neither are you if you’re reading this on your phone or computer screen.

Here’s what I’d like you to try:

Go outside or find a window, any window. If you can find one high up, that might be better. Take a deep breath, and another, and one more. Look up. Look to the sky and see if you can find a cloud. If you can’t find a cloud, pretend there’s one there. Do your best to focus on that cloud and let all distractions fall away. See the color of the sky and the whiteness of the cloud. Notice how your eyes react to looking so far away. Then after a time of looking up, slowly bring your gaze downward to the edge of the earth. Note if the color of the sky changes or if the texture of the clouds is different there. Focus on the horizon that you have found for a time and allow yourself to rest in that ever present moment of wondering what might be on the other side. Take a deep breath and exhale completely. Take stock of how your eyes feel, how your body feels, and how your emotions feel.

I find this kind of exercise to be so relaxing. If you can go outside and lay in the grass to do it, by all means do so! I’ve just given you solid reasoning for the importance of lying in the grass watching the clouds. You can thank me later. Not only is staring off into the distance good for your overstressed eyes, it’s also good on a spiritual level.

David Abram, an eco-philosopher, argues that the horizon is the physical representation of the future:

“The visible horizon, that is, a kind of gateway or threshold, joining the presence of the surrounding terrain to that which exceeds this open presence, to that which is hidden beyond the horizion. The horizon carries the promise of something more, something other.”

When I was in high school I used to look off into the sunset through the picture window in my parent’s living room. It seemed somehow more profound than it really ought to have been. Sometimes I had strange moments of clarity and knowing when I stared off into the horizon. If the horizon is the future rooted then it is also a representation of fate and maybe a way to access it.

Interestingly, in Lithuania the goddess of the dawn, Aušrinė and Laima, the goddess of fate are connected. According to the scholar A. J. Greimas, Laima is seen as Aušrinė’s godmother who blesses the dawn at her birth. The rainbow is the symbol of Laima and is likened to the colors of the dawn as well. As Aušrinė begins the day, so does Laima prophecy the fate of babies at the dawn of their lives.

So we have this idea of fate and future, dawn and the horizon that comes together from multiple sources. It is something to think about, at least. Maybe if you find that you need to know the future of a thing (and make sure you really need to know) you should find yourself in that liminal space between night and day and seek out the line between land and sky. In the moment between one breath and the next you might find that you know the answer you seek.

Druidic Meditation Part I

Druidic Meditation Part II

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 2, 2015

Breaking the Cycle: Demeter

Next Post

April 18, 2015 Love your Mother!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category animism Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Health and Wellness History Holidays Magic Nature pagan parenting plant animism Politics Ritual and Practice symbolism and science Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 January 2014 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 July 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Hoshea" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Lord is Holy God's Messenger Chosen One Salvation