Eyes

People say you can (and some say that you shouldn't) wear your heart on your sleeve. I say, if that's where it feels good to wear it, then go for it.

Others have said that it sometimes ends up in your throat. Though there certainly are limitations, I think some hard swallowing is a good thing too, at least on occasion.

Of course, this whole "heart" obsession is not so much about the physical body's blood pump as it is about the soul's epicenter of emotion and/or spirit. I have observed that, no matter where else we wear or find THAT heart, it seems to always be visible and reflected through our eyes.

A deceitful heart will betray itself in the eyes. A compassionate heart will reveal itself there. When someone's words and actions are confusing or incongruent, the eyes are the window of revelatory truth. The mouth knows how to both speak and smile as disguise, but the eyes struggle to perpetrate such guile.

As a culture, we are concerned with the color and size of people’s eyes. We have created a whole industry of enhancement that tries to make the color, shape, and size of our eyes fit a culturally acceptable norm. This superficial obsession masks our eyes’ true significance.

We are not entirely comfortable with prolonged eye-to-eye contact, especially with people who are not long-time and close acquaintances. I believe one of the reasons for this social dis-ease is that we recognize, at least subconsciously, that such encounters are bi-directional. Not only are our eyes peering into the heart of another, but, at the same time, theirs are seeing into ours.

I've found it quite difficult, if not nearly impossible, to see into my own eyes. I know my own heart, or so I think, but a true test of integrity is to allow another to peer, unhindered, into the deep pools of my pupils, and to give that person permission to share the dream that such naked seeing reveals.

I have a very strong hunch that this is the basis of all love.

How have you experienced it?

 

Gloria (1999-2014)

© 2015 Todd Jenkins