I first realized I needed glasses in my senior year of college. I remember that my moment of realization happened in the terribly exciting "Industrial Organizations and Antitrust Policy" class. Sitting there, slightly hungover, I tried rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I was sitting next to my friend, Andy (a life long wearer of glasses), and he saw me rubbing my eyes and randomly said, "Here. Try these on." I decided to give them a try. Why not? I slipped on those glasses and boom *cue angelic horns playing some sort of epiphany tune*. Everything on the whiteboard because immediately clear. Damn my stubbornness, but I just assumed no one could read red market on the whiteboard. I remember thinking "Shit". This was going to change the game for everything. I started making comments like "Well, I guess I've been living a lie because I haven't been able to see things clearly". I felt like I had to "go back" and redo everything I experienced visually during those 22 years prior to this glasses revelation. Part of me felt cheated. A life not fully lived because things weren't "clear" - literally and figuratively (in the most dreadfully cliche way possible). The Optometrist explained to me that it was nearsightedness and and my mental laundry list of questions started forming. What about all the mountainscapes that I've gazed at/from? What about the ceiling murals in the countless cathedrals that I visited in Europe? If only I had been wearing glasses, these experiences would have been more "clear".
Reflecting on this makes me think about what other types of glasses we have in our lives. The people, things, belief systems, or ideas that change our optics on reality. From both a physical and higher conscious level. Do we have "spiritual glasses"? Additional question to consider on your own or in the comments:
- If we have spiritual glasses, when do we have the moment of realization that we need them?
- Does that moment of realization come early on or do many years go by or do some people never have them at all?
- Who/what is the impetus for this moment of realization?
- How, like standard glasses, do our prescriptions for our spiritual glasses change as we journey (or age) through life?
- Does implying that we need spiritual glasses insinuate that we have some sort of "spiritual defect" that needs correcting? Would that be a bad thing?
- What about "Spiritual Lasik" surgery?
- What would a prescription for spiritual glasses look like?
Jack- this is a great analogy! I think it applies in a spiritual sense, but also on other levels for me personally as I grow as a leader. If I knew then what I knew now about XYZ, I could have acted differently. I'm still challenging myself in how I can be a responsible consumer, a steward of natural resources, a feminist and a Catholic. As I stretch, I feel guilty for not approaching all the problems of the past with today's "glasses." At the same time, I'm trying to focus on what's ahead and how I can use everything I'm learning to make the right decisions next time.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing that we're constantly learning and growing, right?
As I re-read (and then re-read a few more time, wanting to catch the true essence of it) your lovely narrative Jack I thought if I had ever had that nearsightedness in own life history. I think I've had moments of realizations over and over. Almost like a doctor telling me every few years about better and better glasses (although perhaps I shouldn't assume my prescription has been improving-my discernment isn't perfect I know).
ReplyDeleteI think one of the times where I noticed that new prescription was needed was spring 2018 (I have been wearing glasses since first grade so I can't really remember a time where frames weren't on my head hence why I can relate more to NEW prescription and not so much new glasses in general :P). I had gone to a few couple of unfortunate dates with what I believed was the epitome of what a Catholic man was. This "shinning" example had made it clear that I was not a faithful Catholic due to events and conversations that had occured. I had placed him in a pedestal and for a hot second (or a few weeks) believed that I would never be worthy of a holy Catholic man-of the person that I desired to build a romantic friendship with.
Then God's grace through loving priest male friends and some counseling gave me some new glasses and I saw the events closer to what they had truly been. A young man entrenched in the negative habits of patriarchy found in the Church-like that of sexual shaming women and the danger that putting anyone (even a saint) on a pedestal can be.
Alas, that was my last significant new prescription. Oh, and the one of Lasik-dear Lord I hope not! If you find that doctor let me know :P I think of it as a gradual process but maybe major things can get us there (like St. Iggy and Monserat?). I am not sure.