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Look Less, See More
Despite popular belief, attaining presence is not about thinking or trying to be here now. Rather, it is a naturally occurring state that arises when our eyes and mind, triggered by light, focus on the same place at the same time. In response to light’s invitation and guidance, our eyes begin an intricate dance of aiming, focusing, tracking, and teaming. When light first “awakens” us, our eyes aim toward its emanation, initiating an all-encompassing presence. Though we often relate presence to attention, it has no tension associated with it. It is not a forced voluntary process of selecting one aspect of our environment to focus on while ignoring others. Presence is an involuntary response to an invitation by life’s intelligence pointing us toward our maximum potential. Our degree of presence is directly related to how effortlessly and accurately our eyes are able to aim. When the eyes aim effectively, making eye contact with—and thus, acknowledging—what has called to them, we experience congruence. This is a state of coming together, the perfect alignment of our outer and inner worlds, where extraneous noise around us diminishes. I discovered this during my career as an optometrist and vision scientist. When patients came to me with vision problems, I found that most of the time their eyes would look at one spot, but their mind would be elsewhere. This incongruity between what their eyes and their mind were seeing interfered with their natural ability to experience presence. In one of my research studies, published in 1976, I found that nearly 70 percent of the participants were not looking where they thought they were looking, a sign that their eyes and mind were not converged on the same point. In addition, more than half of the subjects were looking too hard, revealing a tendency to push rather than allow things to unfold before their eyes. I also observed that the more my patients worked at seeing or understanding something, the more they held their breath and the less they actually saw. However, when their natural breathing cycle was restored, they relaxed and their vision and learning ability significantly improved. This is why presence is so rare. When our physical eyes (which receive 80 to 90 percent of our life experience) are not aligned with our “mind’s eye,” it is impossible to experience presence or oneness. If you are middle-aged or older and have taken to using reading glasses, then you likely know what it feels like to try to read the small print on the label of a supplement container without your reading glasses. The harder you try, the more your eyes strain. Yet the text on the container still does not come into focus. The way to see the text more clearly lies in releasing your effort and softening your focus, allowing your mind and your eyes to naturally align themselves. Since awareness is curative, once you have experienced it, you will not go back to your old way of seeing or being. Our lives grow richer as we focus less on the visible world and more on the invisible one. We become increasingly aware of the calling that moves us to look in a certain direction—the lead wave within the ocean of awareness that points our compass toward its next directive. Sometimes we speak of individuals who can tap into this level of seeing as “intuitive” or “psychic,” yet we have all had experiences like these. You are sitting at your desk and suddenly the image of someone flashes into your mind. Your phone rings, and it is the very person you were just sensing, confirming a connection you feel that transcends the boundaries of the rational mind. So often in life we focus on the things we want to accomplish, missing the subtleties directing our journey. But it is in these “whispers” that the real magic lies. After working with thousands of people, I have come to realize that my job is not necessarily to identify and solve problems but rather to gently recede into the background and allow the intelligence of life to guide the process. Serving as an intermediary between the formless information received and the wellbeing of the patient, I have come to discover that by doing less, more happens, and by doing nothing, everything happens. Much like the Taoist concept of wei wu wei, doing “nothing” does not imply that nothing happens. We simply allow something larger to lead, which reinforces our trust in the wisdom of life. Seventeenth-century priest, physician, and mystic Angelus Silesius expressed this concept eloquently when he said, “God, whose love and joy are present everywhere, can’t come to visit you unless you aren’t there.” Seventeenth-century French playwright Molière said, “If we leave nature alone, she recovers gently from the disorders into which she has fallen. It is our anxiety, our impatience, which spoils all; and nearly all men die of their remedies not of their diseases.” We live in a universe designed to function in the most economical way, whether we are discussing the workings of the body, Mother Nature, or the universe as a whole. That means that life is superefficient and operates with the least amount of effort. The least amount of effort is the state called presence. The power of presence provides each of us the wisdom to be instruments of the Divine. Wisdom has no author; it moves through us anonymously. The intelligence of life effortlessly directs nature and all its inhabitants. As this guidance moves through us, our personality disappears and what remains is a contagious radiance entraining everything and everyone into a state of wellness. Spontaneous Healing Not long ago I was sitting in a spa steam room when I noticed a man walking outside. He was holding on to the wall and walked as if he was visually or physically challenged. He then entered the steam room very carefully, and sat down. After coughing for several minutes he told me that he had a condition similar to multiple sclerosis that significantly affected his gross and fine motor coordination, speech, and most of his internal functions. He also told me that he was a teacher and writer for years prior to receiving the diagnosis of his illness. He asked me what I did. I told him that I was working on a new book about how life always guides us to do what we know by heart. At that point he began to share passionately about his interests, and as I listened attentively he literally transformed before my eyes. His speech cleared, his balance and coordination normalized, his face appeared less inflamed, and his eyes became clear and sparkly. He was no longer the man I had met just forty-five minutes earlier. When he finished speaking I told him that he had a great deal of wisdom and needed to teach again. When he shared his passion for what he knew by heart, it was as if his disease had miraculously disappeared. That is what can happen when our passion is ignited, and we feel unconditional love for one another and for life itself. According to A Course in Miracles, “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.” In recognizing our life’s purpose and inseparable connection with all that exists, we embrace the great mystery illuminating our journey, becoming a living expression of presence and the love and caring that flows from it. Excerpted from the book Luminous Life ©2018 by Jacob Israel Liberman. Printed with permission from New World Library — www.newworldlibrary.com.
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