I am glad that there are times that my eyes can tenderly release what they see. In those moments, my mind takes a break and no longer tries to impose order on what my eyes see. My mind stops trying to fabricate a world that makes sense and has some connection to what I previously experienced. In those moments and for the first time, I see someone, a plant, a cloud. I am able to look past all the offerings coming from my mind, and come face to face with what is before me. It is a totally new and fresh experience.
I know that my mind is active any time that I have my eyes open. It is constantly working to make sense of anything that I am looking at. Mainly, my mind is relating the image to what I have experienced before, imposing on the image all that I can recall of my past experience that most closely matches the image.
What I experience is often something that my mind makes up on the spur of the moment, on the instigation of what I am seeing. It interprets what my eyes experience and gives meaning to all those photons registering on my retina. I often get a feeling of recognition when my mind tells me that I have seen this chair before, I know what it feels like, I know what it can do.
Sometimes my mind goes into fibrillation mode when I see a confusing scene, and I have to make a snap interpretation. My mind responds to my eyes and tells me what I am seeing. Often, I have to revise that interpretation of what I have seen.
It is hard to constantly tell my mind to take a break and just let me see things “for the first time” without any reference to my past experience. For me, this is what mindful awareness is all about. Awareness is being able to look beyond the mind-enhanced image and have a fresh and new experience, without the thought limitations.
When I am able to set aside my mental images, I am better able to experience someone, a plant, a cloud with an open heart. Reality is something my heart is best at grasping. My heart is so much more reliable than my mind. But first, my eyes have to release what they think they see, and I can then see beyond.