Walking by Faith, Not Sight

I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.

-      Helen Keller

       

I recently read a number of quotes by Helen Keller and what struck me was the number of references she made to the importance of sight, vision, light, seeing and beholding. Remarkable advice from a woman who had no physical sight. Though deprived of the view of life that we sighted people enjoy, she developed clear perception of the invisible world that sustained her. "What I am looking for is not "out there", it is in me."

I observed this phenomenon in my own mother who lost most of her sight to macular degeneration in her later years. As her perception of her outer world dimmed she became more convinced of the reality of God's presence within her. I found this remarkable and inspiring. Most of us would assume that it is the great miracles of preference, like sight being restored to the blind that would quicken a person's faith. My mother's faith was not diminished but substantially increased through a great loss. Perhaps it is the vision of one world that costs us the vision of another. Without eyesight, there is still insight, perhaps even more keenly, in the case of Helen Keller and Frieda Schellink.

It is human nature to want to see life working out according to our preferences. We seem to know what would be best for us, make us happy, or serve our life purpose. Yet many of us got what we wanted, and happiness remained at large. Or we avoided some awful fate, and never dealt with our deepest fear. When we ask the question, what is best for us, we must be willing to abandon personal will to make room for soul wisdom.  Then we are lead to our growing edge, the current limit to our capacity to understand our true self. This is the place where we can discover the difference between Life and life situations.  This is the place where we can build our faith in the invisible reality of our Being, as the temporary forms of life change before our eyes, leaving us with a sense of unalterable Life within. While eyesight bears witness to the temporal world, insight reveals the eternal.

To some people, the fruits of their faith are in getting what they pray for. That is visualization; using the infinite universal Power to create according to our will. This is a useful tool, but builds a fragile faith, entirely dependent upon circumstances for its strength. A deeper faith comes when we discover a persistent state of well being, through whatever arises. Jesus said, there will be trials and tribulations in this world. Buddha said there will be 10,000 joys, 10,000 sorrows. Notice they did not say there might be, they said, there will be challenges. If my faith in God is predicated on how my life unfolds in a purely outer sense, I am assured of a wobbly faith, built on sand. Yet if I resist the temptation to "judge by appearances" and seek the kingdom of heaven within my own consciousness, I will be sustained by knowing that I am one with the eternal presence power and love of Spirit, whatever may come.  This is why we pray and meditate, so that we can improve our inner vision and come to know that the presence of Spirit is inseparable from who we truly are. Then the fruits of our practice is a sense of equanimity, perhaps even joy, as we encounter and embrace the outrageous winds of change that will surely come to pass in our life.