Un-Seeing is Believing
Seeing or feeling more than meets the eye can be confusing or frightening...
but it can also be reassuring and enlightening...
-The Miracle Collectors
We all know that seeing is believing, but what about not seeing or unseeing as I like to call it, while those more cynical than I may actually refer to it as just being clueless. How do we believe then?
A recent headline in the Boston Globe (7/5/21) about a rabbi who was stabbed multiple times caught my attention, not only for the sad story, but for the definitive headline, “If people want to see a miracle, they should look at me.” It is an amazing example of a man targeted for his religion who not only drew the attacker away from the children playing nearby, but celebrated being alive rather than focusing on his injuries, offering forgiveness and understanding instead of anger or revenge. He recognizes in real time that his life is a tangible miracle and offers himself as proof to those who have a hard time believing that miracles happen amidst prejudice and evil.
Katie and I have been speaking on radio interviews and podcasts about how each of us can find the miracles in our lives and we love empowering people to do so by becoming more aware. Awareness, like the rabbi's, is a foundational element of recognizing a miracle. But many miracles are not that easy to see; not quite so black and white as not being killed by an assailant with hatred in his heart. As humans, we tend to move through life not paying attention to the little things: not seeing the beauty in a moment, a smile, a handshake or hug, a sunrise or sunset, the stars in the heavens, or the nod of mutual understanding in an interaction at work or in our daily lives. Sometimes we get so caught up in the sadness, the confusion, and the grief of life that we become mired in despair and are unable to focus on anything but our own disillusionment. Jess Redman describes this in her book The Miraculous (a recommendation from a friend who knows how I love reading about miracles of all kinds even from the Young Adult section), “All around us are miracles. Most are marvelous and wonderful and bright and so clearly seen. But not all. Because there can be miracles even in the midst of unfathomable sadness and anger, even in the depths of grief and confusion. And these, these are the hidden ones, the ones we must search for.” It is good advice. It’s relatively effortless to feel gratitude for the easy things that come our way, and far harder to dig down and find the miracle in the tragedies that befall us as part of our human condition.
By paying attention and becoming more aware of the individual moments in our lives, we can begin to see how our lives connect back to the Divine and to the miracles that are available to each of us. As one who tends to move through life quickly, slowing down and paying attention doesn’t come easily. And yet, I have learned that un-seeing, not paying attention to what surrounds me, is not a way to connect with others or to find the light and grace in our lives. Those gifts, those miracles, come when our senses are wide open with appreciation, with compassion, with connection to our fellow human beings. In Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather wrote a description that is not only one of my favorite miracle explanations, but is one I strive to live daily, “Miracles seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing powers coming suddenly near us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what there is about us always.” My wish for all of you is the joy of the 'aha' moment that comes with recognition and celebration of a miracle in the good times as well as the difficult ones. (Joan)