Seeing with new eyes and feeling with a new heart
There are countless places, people and events we have seen in our travels. But what did we see and how did we see them? If we saw them with our 'mind's eyes' then perhaps we missed a lot of their subtleties. If however we saw them with our 'heart's eyes' then we could have seen them with greater depth, sensitivity and beauty. For example two people can go to the same location together and see and feel completely different things having completely separate experiences?
To understand this further we should firstly look at what is meant by 'mind's eye'. When we look around us we see according to the mood that we are in. This is determined in many instances by how the day is presenting itself to us. If we have had a difficult day one full of doubts, failed expectations, fear, urgencies or disappointments then that may well determine our outer feelings. The weight of a day's problems will affect our moods. If these are cranky, short tempered or impatient then the world is not going to look or feel that great.
In that mood when we are in a beautiful location we may not see it for its real beauty. In fact in that instant when we look, we may not see anything of beauty at all because we are not letting go of the day's problems in the perfect place to do so. We are seeing only with the limited reality 'mind's eye' and an uninspired heart. Remembering that the mind is very limited it has created how you are feeling after a difficult day. It may therefore see with the conditionings of disappointment, tiredness, frustration or unhappiness.
If however we use a deeper and more connected way of looking at things then we really begin to see. The spiritual or inspired heart does not see with disappointment, frustration or unhappiness. It intuitively sees with love, beauty, joy, enthusiasm and oneness. In that same location an individual with an inspired heart will see many subtle things: a place of great beauty filled with colours, shadows, fragrances, the relationships of objects to each other, displays of changing light and inspired feelings help to highlite all of the senses to as to embrace the locations unique beauty.
Similarly in our conversations with another individual if we look at that individual with our heart's inspired eye we will see them as another soul, someone with inner beauty, someone who shows great compassion, someone who is kind and loving. With our 'mind's eye' however we may remember how they were dressed, what piercings they had and how untidy their hair was, and in doing so we create division isolating ourselves from that person. We deprive ourselves of connecting with that person in a real and meaningful way and doing them the injustice of being so judgemental and critical.
To help us stay in the reality of the awakened heart's eye to see the depth of beauty and wonder in the outer world and the inner beauty of individuals we should consider the practice of prayer, meditation and contemplation. By embracing the calming and uniting virtues of compassion, joy, tranquillity, cheerfulness and willingness each morning an individual replenishes the heart's deepest qualities. Then the individual shall see the world unfolding before them with the eyes of beauty and a heart full of inspiration, enthusiasm, potential and hope.
Sri Chinmoy the meditation teacher says, (1) "We must look all around, not to see the ugliness of the world, but to see the creation in its purest form with our awakened eyes. If the individual needs a peaceful heart, let him concentrate, meditate and contemplate on the very depths of the ocean. And if he needs a heart of peace, let him look at the ocean surface and allow his inner being to get in tune with the waves of the ocean".
Ref: (1) Sri Chinmoy's Book - Meditation
Biography - Sahayak Plowman by nature is a calm, positive and happy person. He attributes this to the growing experiences gained through his own meditation practice with the guidance given by his meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy. He is a writer on spiritual topics, compiler of a published book of poetry Sri Chinmoy's Heart-Garden, meditation teacher and web master for Sri Chinmoy Books.com