Seeing With the Heart

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Seeing With the Heart

by Lisa Shaw

We are equipped with different ways of seeing. If we are fully open to them, we are much more than equipped; we are blessed. Here is a true parable to illustrate the point:

A middle aged man, devastated by kidney failure and the stressful wait for an organ transplant, collapsed into seizures and suffered a breakdown that manifested in an unexpected bout of amnesia. He was subdued in his confusion as family members visited him in the hospital, speaking very little, so they did not realize the extent of his memory loss. When he revealed that he didn’t recognize his sister, she asked him, shocked, “You don’t know me?” He shook his head and retreated into himself like a lost child. A few minutes later, he said with tears in his eyes, “I don’t know who you are, but when I see you I want to cry. I don’t know why.” They both cried.

Then she thought for a moment and spoke. “It’s because you don’t know me with your head, but you know me with your heart.”

Technically, he suffered from what is called global amnesia, which is a temporary condition that is often an adjunct to severe stress and depression. His memory loss did not prevent him from emotionally reacting to someone he knew all his life. His heart-based knowing overrode his physical limitations. Creating a sacred space, his memory cushioned in a place holier than the brain; it was preserved in his heart. The power of that Divine connection transcends the physical and the temporal, opening the door to a spiritual mode of seeing. Heart-centered vision, when it truly happens, opens a door to higher consciousness. Someone without the gift of physical sight will activate other ways of knowing/seeing out of necessity, experiencing life with more intensity and gratification than those of us with eyesight. Helen Keller understood: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.”

OM Times is a leading voice of the Conscious Community with articles covering the full spectrum of Conscious Living. Click here to see all we share.