Your Eyes Are Not Your Friends - So Who Are They? Separate People Like Gut Bacteria?

With respect.

Have you ever heard a story that started like this "Well, it looked good when we first saw it . . . " or some variation? I have and it has happened to many of us more than once over the years. Both from a first and second hand perspective I have heard those words spoken. But why? Why are we habitually fooled by our eyes? There are several reasons that I can "see" (pun intended.) Some of the more mundane reasons are a lack of observational skills or depth of vision, a lack of personal experience and just plain old laziness. More esoteric reasons include an incomplete picture of reality seen by our eyes and the limited visual spectrum of light, the fact that our brains fill in a lot of what we think we see and an incomplete knowledge of karma and just how it works.

You may have purchased something that fell apart after a short time and wondered why? If you had been more observant you might have noticed some signs of faulty workmanship or you may have even had a bad feeling that went ignored. A more experienced person may have been able to advise you better based on their personal experience that the item in question had an internal problem that could not be seen with the naked eye.

This happens a lot with personal relationships too. After the honeymoon phase we see the other person in a different light when we get to know them better. Maybe then we find out that we are not compatible. There are things that we do not see because our eyes are actually fooling us into believing that this is something that we desire, whether it is an object or a person. Does desire start with the eyes? If you never saw something can you possibly desire it? Try to think of an example.

The five categories of desires are food, sex, fame, money and power. Assuming that you are not blind from birth, you can picture the object of desire in each of these categories. Food looks delicious, sex looks better with a beautiful person, fame is symbolized by crowds of adoring fans, money and material wealth can be seen as being surrounded by beautiful objects and power can be seen as control over the people and environment around you.

Our eyes show us an incomplete picture of reality and start a lot of desires in our minds but to me it feels like they are working for nature and keeping me connected to a world of sensation and subsequent unfulfilled promises. My experience has been that intuition and the little coincidences that pop up every day are better sign posts to getting into the flow of life than my simple desires. Try it for one day. Look for the signs, forget your desires. Tell your eyes that you can be friends but you question their agenda. Maybe they are separate people after all.