Our Eyes …The windows to our souls, or……..?

Although I’ve always believed Shakespeare to be the writer, when I went to confirm it; I now know there is great debate as to the author of the phrase “The eyes are the windows to the soul.”  And so, although no one seems to know exactly who said it; scientific studies suggest that we can look into the eyes of another person and get a sense of what kind of person they are.

For years, I made a living looking into the eyes of other people or taking note of the fact that they couldn’t look me into the eyes.  From my personal and professional experience, I believe that you can tell a lot about someone by looking in their eyes (or if they can’t look into yours).  But as I experience my struggles with trying to live differently and see my life slowly begin to change, I also believe that my eyes have become the window for my soul to view the world.  Yes, they physically see the things around me; but they have become the method by which my soul sees the world, too.

When we connect our daily living to the essence of our souls in such a way that we live consistent with who we are; then our eyes begin to see the world as our soul views and experiences it.  The focus of our eyes changes; and subsequently, the world as we see it changes. 

As we live “fully alive”, “exceptionally”, “with clarity”, and/or  “consistent with who we are designed to be” our vision is not obscured.  The windows – our eyes – to the world become clear as glass and we see our lives, our place in the world around us and the world more clearly than we ever have before.  We see others as they “truly are”, not as we imagine them to be.

If our souls and our living are inconsistent; then our eyes see the world with blurred vision.  The glass is obscured by the disjointed relationship between our physical activity and our soul’s condition.   In the internal confusion and disturbance caused by our lack of balance between the soul and body, our focus is disturbed and we will be unable to see the world clearly.

And thus, it is the condition of our soul that determines the clarity by which our eyes allow us to view the external world.  Others may be able to look into our eyes and see what exist within us; but what is in our soul determines how we see everyone and everything.

The eyes are “windows”; but the windows allow vision both ways.