Believing Is Seeing

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 re-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 view of her outer world dimmed she became more aware 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. It is human nature to want to see life working out according to our preferences. We think we 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 elusive. 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 find a path to our growing edge and enlarge our capacity to believe in the invisible self that surpasses human understanding. This is the place where we can build our faith in the hidden reality of our Being. For many of us a process of subtraction becomes a great boon to our spiritual understanding. As visible forms of life change before our eyes, we are spun around and dropped into the lap of a Presence within. While eyes search in vain for the happy outcomes in the night, insight reveals the unseen comforter; the eternal blessing. To some people, the fruits of their faith are measured in getting what they pray for. This is visualization; using creative power to manifest 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 by uncovering a persistent state of well being, that remains unperturbed through whatever arises.  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 grace 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 us. Then when outrageous winds of change come and change the landscape of our visible world, we will look within to find the good, true and the beautiful which steadfastly remain in us, for us, and as us.