Bourgeault: The Lens Through Which You see
“If you wear glasses, you likely often forget that they’re even there! Only when you take the lenses off do you realize how much your capacity to see is informed by the lens through which you are seeing, or as Richard Rohr often says, ‘How we see is what we see.’”—Cynthia Bourgeault in The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity (CAC, 2004), disc 2.
Here Cynthia uses an analogy to teach us about the Trinity, but we can also apply it to our everyday life. If you or the spiritual friends you meet wear glasses, try this exercise:
Take off your glasses. Try to see at a distance or read a passage of text. Perhaps you will “see” or realize that what you “see” depends on the lenses of your glasses. Often our lens, or how we see the world, is through the filter of our work, family, or position. We might experience a need for prestige, a desire for money, control, or power; a longing to be in the spotlight or successful; or we could be obsessed with beauty, clothes, food, another person, alcohol, drugs, or other addictions. When our world or the sun is too bright, we must wear sunglasses. Sometimes, if we are depressed or grieving, we indeed may see the world through dark glasses.
Meditation, prayer, and meeting with spiritual friends can help us find the prescription of the lenses we use to view our family, friends, enemies, and the world. We learn to take those glasses off and are led inward to see the light, the Christ in ourselves, and the Christ in our neighbor. We begin to see ourselves, the world, and others through the lens of the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/