Eyes

Eyes.

Often I sit in the kitchen at the beginning of the day and cast my mind over what is important to me, that day. Mostly, it’s very predictable and mundane, but occasionally, something a little bit special intrudes.

This day, I started to think about all the people in my life and what is important to me about them. Some are pretty, some are intelligent; I have benefitted from their strengths and from their wisdom, their humours and sense of adventure, and so much more. But I realise that there is something that overrides all that and I find it most easily in the meeting of eyes – young, old, strong, weak, quick, firm, laughing, frowning and so on. Someone said to me today that smiles are the same in any language and that may be true, but what passes between the eyes can go way beyond language. Life meets life through the eyes, confirming both you and you (and I).

Call to your mind what you see when you look in another’s eyes, and that other looks back; longing, passion, hurt, warmth, strength or anger; loneliness, hope or belief, love or frustration – they are there in purity, before they are ever enacted in word or gesture. Our feelings are the currency of our being and our spiritual zest is expressed in the eyes, for all to see. There, in small, is greater evidence of soul, spirit and god, than is contained in all the churches, temples and holy books in the world.

Of course, there are those whose eyes are empty, but I do not speak of them.

JRH

24/9/12