I Was Blind, But Now I See

6 comments

I chuckle every time I think about an interview I once heard with Ray Charles. The interviewer asked Charles what the one question is that he most often is asked. Charles smiled and said, “People always ask me if I’ve been blind all my life.” The interviewer followed up by asking, “And your response?” With a wide grin Charles said, “I always tell them, ‘not yet’!”

I think that question is actually something that should be asked of everyone and often. Each of us is born blind, born into the false-self of egoic grasping and darkness. Along life’s way, if we’re fortunate, we come to learn the way of living with eyes wide open – we come to be ‘born again.’ The first birth is in blindness to the true self. The second birth is the day we come to own who we really have been created to be. And that day is the greatest day we will ever know.

In following the Jesus story I see how many times this played itself out. Even his followers went through a process of blindness to sight. John the Baptist once sent messengers to Jesus to ask if he were really the awaited-for Christ. Jesus simply said, Go tell John what you ‘see’ – the sick are healed, the lame walk the dead rise, etc.

After a great catch of fish – so many the boat began to sink, so many it was beyond mere coincidence – Peter fell at the feet of Jesus in honor of who he now saw and believed Jesus to be. His eyes were, in effect, opened.

Others, perhaps Thomas (the doubter) is a good example, never quite seemed to be able to fully open their eyes – certainly we could make a case for Judas as succumbing to such perpetual blindness. But even so, there are numerous others who did come to see – like the Samaritan woman at the well or perhaps the centurion soldiers at the foot of the cross.

I often wonder how well the many spiritual organizations who gather in the name of Jesus today are doing helping people transition from such egoic-false-self blindness to a state of the enlightened self/sight. If the litmus test is that the false-self is that part of humankind that believes it must do everything (or at least, the bulk of everything) on its own, that it is about the power of the individual and the abilities and will of the self, then we may be walking a fine line indeed. To borrow another biblical metaphor, we may still only be seeing the people around us vaguely, ‘as trees walking,’ or ‘through a glass darkly.’ There is still much sight to be gained.

Sometimes sight is found outside of the religious norm; often it happens with chance encounters of Jesus (Christ consciousness) today. Maybe someone in the name of God steps into our lives and helps us begin seeing our true natures, our true selves in ways to which we were previously blind. Gaining sight this way is often discredited by the religious elite as if it’s somehow not ‘official’ because it occurred outside of the approved organization.

It’s sort of like the story from the Gospels where a blind man receives his sight only to be accused, condemned and discredited by the Temple leaders. They ask the man, “Who healed you? What was his name?” The blind man mocks them saying, “Isn’t this interesting, never has such a deed of a blind man receiving sight been recorded and yet you don’t even know the name of the one who did it!”

The promise is universal: Seek and you will find. Ask and it will be given you. Knock and the door will be opened. Blindness was never meant to be the final word.

So, ‘have you been blind your entire life?’

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6 comments to “I Was Blind, But Now I See”

  1. Dan says:
    April 26, 2010 at 5:28 am

    Thank God He is opening your eyes to His true love in new ways everyday.
    Love Dan

    Reply
  2. Naomi says:
    April 26, 2010 at 6:18 am

    As a disabled person working for full inclusion of disabled people in the Church, I think it’s time to rethink some of our use of disability imagery to describe spiritual experience. Not that it’s all wrong. Just that some of it is used without considering how, for example, a blind person might feel about having his/her life used to describe a state of spiritual ignorance.

    Reply
    • timking says:
      April 26, 2010 at 12:43 pm

      I certainly don’t disagree with what you’re saying — blessings in your efforts.

      Reply
      • Alicia says:
        April 26, 2010 at 11:46 pm

        Naomi,

        I don’t think John’s gospel intended to portray that person as ignorant. I think what he intended to do was to show the fact that God can heal all things. It was more symbolic in nature. Of course the blind man wouldn’t know who healed him…he was blind at the time! He was very, very grateful, too! The blind ones were the ones that saw the miracle and still questioned it as if it was some sort of scandal..

        Alicia

        Reply
  3. Rich says:
    May 1, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    Very nicely stated Alicia.

    Reply