Thought for the Week
20/20 isn’t perfect. It’s simply normal vision. The first 20 represents the ability to see clearly from 20 feet away. The second represents your ability. So if someone brags about having “20/20,” they’re actually bragging about having normal vision. True, not everyone does. But it’s like bragging about having an orange belt in karate, which is only about 1/3rd of the way to a black belt. Good. But not exactly sell-your-story-to-Hollywood good.
Better yet, some people have 20/10 vision, allowing them to see at 20 feet away (twice as far) what 20/20ers can only see at 10. There are even a few people with 20/5. Now, that’s sell-your-story-to-Hollywood good!
Ophthalmologically speaking (say that three times fast), there are three components to vision:
- The cornea lets in particles of light, but that doesn’t guarantee a person can see the light. Just as (spiritual metaphor alert) seeds of truth scattered in a person’s heart don’t guarantee they can see the truth.
- The lens focuses light. This is where vision, like seeds, sprouts. Or doesn’t. Cataracts, distortions, can cloud a lens’s ability to focus the light. Just as bitterness, obsessions, greed and other delusions can cloud our ability to process truth.
- The retina gathers the info the lens has sent, and turns it into signals we can truly see. But if light (truth) never reaches it, we’re physically (or spiritually) blind.
Years ago, when I worked at a bookstore, a young man came in carrying a Satanic Bible. He wanted to check it against a Bible, he said, “to see which one offers the best deal.” When I suggested he ask, instead, which one “offers the truth,” he brayed like a donkey. Talk about a distorted lens.
How’s your vision? Is your lens correctly focusing the light–asking only what’s right and true–or is it distorted? I know an Ophthalmologist who has ∞/0 vision (able to see from ininity what we can’t see at all). One who teaches people to see through his eyes. Warning: the treatment is expensive–everything you have–but it’s worth it. Because only he can see…
To infinity and beyond.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is clear, your whole body will be full of light.”
∞
Now I see!!!!!
;>)
” … the eye is the lamp of the body.” — interesting! enjoyed the analogies as well. thanks for sharing <3
My pleasure, Ren.
Great analogy, Mitch!
Thanks, Wynne!
Amen. What great analogies, Mitch!
Thank you, Carol.
Oh, what a beautiful analogy, Mitch!
Why, thank you, Joy.
Very rich!
Blessings
Great thought or insight for the week, thanks for sharing
My pleasure, L.G.
45/45
Here’s an appropriate record album.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/20/20_(The_Beach_Boys_album)
I don’t think God is in the business of making “deals.”
So it would seem, Liz.
Profound thoughts, thank you for sharing., Mitch. Reminds me of a quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery in The Little Prince, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” I guess the heart has its own vision that goes beyond human eyesight. This was the angle I saw in your post.
Right you are, Deeva.
Great!! 👍🏻
Thank you, Daisy.
Dear Mitch
The impulses coming in through the optical nerve are processed in your brain. Seeing has to do with knowing. Who knows more sees more.
We like your metaphors
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you, Klaus. ;>)
The truth for sure!!
Beautiful analogy.👌
Thank you, Shweta.
You offer much to think about here, Mitch–what’s normal/excellent, truth, vision, and light. Great post.
Thank you, Mary.
Great response to the Satanist.
Thank you, CC.