To see or not just to see
A persistent question I have had is — Why do we close our eyes when we pray? And here are some of my findings as I still continue to understand it…
One is almost always curious to see. As soon as one hears a creak, one’s reflexes work swiftly to look in the direction of the distraction, one wants to see what caused it. Or for instance, if the lights go off due to a power outage, automatically one springs into action scavenging for an emergency light. Well, it is hard not to see, or not be alert. “Keep your eyes wide open”, they say.
Sight is a beautiful and complex science that one conveniently learns to take for granted. For, one often only sees what one desires to see. As powerful as it can be, Sight also opens a Pandora’s Box of varied distractions. The default setting of a human mind is to stay in a constant state of being distracted. (Remember how a conversation can reach a point that has no relation what-so-ever with the topic you actually started off with?)
To see is one thing, to observe and sense is another. Although there is so much vitality in and around, one (unknowingly) chooses to be blissfully ignorant of all this magic. (Just the way you find it hard to take your eyes off that fascinating little detail at the far corner of a brilliant painting. It is almost like the rest of the painting is just a blur when you try recollecting!) But there is an easier way to cut off these distractions — abstinence; yes, simply close the eyes to avoid all possible visual input. Isn’t that exactly what one does when one prays and meditates. (But wait a minute, aren’t we missing the point here? In an attempt to not get distracted by a small detail, we have now virtually obscured the whole painting! May be, the point is that we are not ready to see the painting yet. May be we need to start with something small and slowly expand the horizon.)
Prayer and meditation is meant to discipline one’s mind to sense the energy around and within in its true wholeness. An exercise for one’s mind to learn to achieve a state of mindfulness starting from a point of sheer emptiness. It is a practice that needs to be constantly evolved and expanded.
An interesting excerpt from — Mindful Meditation: Eyes Open or Closed?
The ultimate reason that made me decide for eyes open came from the wonderful (and long) Zen and the Brain, by James Austin (a neuro-scientist). You want to do mindful meditation. You do so by sitting very still and being mindful of your breathing (for example). And you want to carry that mindfulness into your daily life. What is then more natural than having your eyes open to let you carry this mindfulness throughout the day?
Every waking moment is not just about being selectively-alert, it is about being truly and wholly aware.
