When I was in my late teens, I used to enjoy western music,
and one of my favorite songs was called, “Brown Eyes.” The lyrics went something like this:
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes I’ll never love blue eyes again
Willie, I love you, my Darlin’ I love you with all my heart
Tomorrow we might have been married But ramblin’ has kept us apart Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes I’ll never love blue eyes again
Down through the barroom he staggered And fell down by the door
The very last words that he uttered “I’ll never see brown eyes no more” Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Though the lyrics by themselves didn’t make a lot of sense, when put to music, they sounded good. It was a sad song as most westerns seemed to be in those days.
One thing that the song did for me was to draw my attention to people’s eyes. Then I looked in the mirror to study the color and nature of my own eyes, and I wasn’t impressed with what I saw. But I began to notice and was often impressed with the size and coloring of some other people’s eyes. There was a study conducted by a university graduate student who attempted to determine what it was that first attracted one person to another person of the opposite sex. As you can imagine there were many options, but one that seemed to be fairly high up on the list was a person’s eyes.
When we think of our eyes, we seldom think of their complexity, in fact, most of us take them for granted and could care less about the process an eye must go through in order for us to see. If we really took the time to understand the working of our eyes we would be much more appreciative of the process of our creation. We would be even more appreciative and amazed at our Creator’s intelligence and greatness (Heavenly Father). I love the song, “How Great Thou Art,” because it gives me a moment to renew my awe of Him.
From the Wikipedia, we find this brief description of the eye: “The eye is a very complex optical system which collects light from the surrounding environment; regulates its intensity through a diaphragm; focuses it through an adjustable assembly of lenses to form an image; converts this image into a set of electrical signals; and transmits these signals to the brain, through complex neural pathways that connect the eye, via the optic nerve, to the visual cortex and other areas of the brain.” From this description we realize that what we see, when we see it, is only a complex series of varying light patterns and colors. The final image that actually registers in our brain (what we than see) is what the brain finally converted those light waves and colors into. Each brain may convert those light reflections into a slightly different final image.
We may hear many times the phrase, “Open your eyes so you can see!” when one person could see something in front of them that another was unable to see clearly or at least the same way the first could see it. The comment, however, usually had to do with the other’s, not so good, eye sight. But when we hear, “Can’t you see that?” It is then that they are referring to the other person’s brain power. That is always more personal and offensive, at least to me. Sure I could see it, I just wasn’t seeing the issue the same way that they were. Their assessment of the issue was different from mine and therefore, to them, ‘I wasn’t seeing it or wasn’t getting it.’
There are many ways to see most everything visually, and there are many ways to look at things mentally. The way that we see an issue, that is different from another, is the cause of our life’s controversies: Those controversies that are common between individuals, couples, religions, communities and countries. Ten politicians, in the same room discussing the same issue, may have ten different assessments of that issue and ten different solutions. No two people will see everything in exactly the same way, whether it be a physical object or a mental concept.
There is a game where players are asked to view a street scene for a short period of time. The descriptions, latter given, are often not even close. Again, when two different people are asked to read the same short story once, then retell it in their own words, their renditions may not sound like the story that was read. Different aspects of the story will be emphasized by each reader.
We each have, what is referred to as our ‘Mind’s Eye,’ as well as our physiological eyes. What we see with our physiological eyes is limited to what we are able to see based on the variability of the light waves; our visual acuity and distance from the object, as described above. Our ‘mind’ s eye’ has a much broader range, or what we might also call ‘acuity.’ Our ‘mind’s eye’ has access to all of our senses: eyes, ears, smell, feel, taste and, many would add, a ‘sixth’ sense. I happen to agree that there is a sixth sense and I would refer to it as ‘spirit’ or conscience. It is what our heart tells us when all the other senses can not provide a clear answer to what we have experienced. The ‘mind’s eye’ is so much more reliable than merely what we see with our eyes based only on what has registered in our brains when we saw an actual physical image.
Interestingly, we have biased visions both in terms of what we see with our eyes as well as what we see with our ‘mind’s eye.’ That is why some say, “We see what we want to see.” Our biases are based on our past experiences. We pick from our field of vision the things that interest us. To some it might be a member of the opposite sex, to others it might be a horse, a dog, a house, a car or whatever else is in the field of vision that is of most interest to them.
What a wonderful world of wonderfully individually different people! Our differences explain why people with similar interests seem to somehow find each other and create communities, clubs, churches, etc., places where they can gather together and share their love of their common interests. People who see the world visually, and in their ‘mind’s eye,’ in a similar fashion, usually have fewer conflicts with each other but they have more frequent conflicts with those who see it differently. Our world has to be “a give and take world” because we frequently have to acknowledge and give way to others who see things differently. God bless us to be patient, and long suffering while we sojourn here on earth.
There will come a time when we will all see things more clearly and as Abinadi said, “…and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just.” (Mosiah 16:1)
We stand all amazed at what we can see with our eyes as we gaze upon this beautiful universe and especially this earth: “But as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 9)