The eye is an intriguing organ that serves as the primary channel of visual perception for humans. However, in the Bible, references to the eye go beyond its physicality and delve into deeper spiritual meanings.
In this blog post, we will explore what God’s Word teaches us about the significance of the eye and how it relates to our spiritual well-being.
The Eye as the Lamp of the Body
In both Luke 11:34-36 and Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus refers to the eye as the lamp of the body. This metaphorical usage signifies the role of the eye in providing light and clarity. When our eye is healthy, our entire being is illuminated with light, but if our eye is diseased or corrupted, darkness engulfs us. Here, Jesus emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy and focused spiritual vision.
The Single and Sound Eye
In the teachings of Jesus, having a single or sound eye is vital. It refers to having clear and undivided vision, not being double-minded or wavering in our commitment. A single eye enables us to discern truth and make righteous choices. By contrast, a diseased or distorted eye represents a compromised spiritual perception, leading to moral darkness and confusion.
Symbolic and Figurative Meanings
Throughout the Bible, the eye carries symbolic and figurative meanings. It can represent the heart or mind, being either enlightened or darkened. The eye of the heart is the organ of spiritual perception, through which we gain understanding and insight. It can be opened by God’s Word or the work of the Holy Spirit, or it can be darkened and blinded by sin and unbelief.
The Eye as an Indicator of Character
The Scriptures also associate the eye with one’s character and disposition. A “good” or “bountiful” eye reflects a kind and generous nature, while “proud” or “lofty” eyes indicate arrogance and haughtiness. Additionally, the Bible highlights the importance of humility, often symbolized by “lowly eyes.” Rage or anger can be discerned through the sharpening of the eyes, revealing the inner emotions of an individual.
The Eyes of God
Just as our eyes reflect our thoughts and intentions, the eyes of God symbolize His omniscience, watchfulness, and loving care. God’s eyes are constantly attentive to the affairs of humanity, and He guides and counsels those who seek Him. The concept of the “apple of the eye” signifies God’s protective and caring nature, assuring His people of His unwavering safeguarding.
The references to the eye in God’s Word encompass both literal and metaphorical meanings. Beyond the physicality of vision, the eye symbolizes spiritual perception, character, and divine attentiveness.
Understanding the significance of the eye encourages us to cultivate a healthy and single-minded vision, rooted in God’s truth and righteousness.
May we strive for spiritual clarity and allow God to illuminate our hearts through the light of His Word.
Have you ever been given the chance to experience the power of solitude?
Alone in the silence, I found my peace, A chance to explore my innermost thoughts, The power of solitude I did release, A journey of self-discovery I sought.
Have you ever felt the intensity of being cut off from the outside world, leaving you without anything but your own musings and emotions?
The world outside has vanished, all I have is me, My thoughts and feelings, no one else to see, No one to share my joy or my pain, Alone with my thoughts, I'm lost in the rain.
Isolation can be a profoundly influential occurrence, taking away the chaos of everyday living, allowing you to confront your deepest fears and desires; helping you to comprehend yourself better and your place in the universe.
This can be the start of a tough journey of self-discovery, as you confront the aspects of yourself that may be hard to articulate.
When I refer to you recognizing the depths of darkness in the shadows, I mean more than simply being aware of it. I am suggesting that you have a deep comprehension of it from personal experience and inner understanding. You possess a special ability to look past the exterior of the darkness and to accept and welcome the unfamiliar. You can then find the strength to investigate the vastness of your subconscious. This allows you to gain insight into yourself and the world around you, and to make sense of the hurt, distress, and darkness that happen during life’s journey.
You have the capacity to acknowledge and embrace the beauty and strength of the darkness, and to use it to manifest positive transformation in your life.
This type of knowledge is gained by confronting and exploring the shadow aspects of oneself, and recognizing the cause and effect of these hidden emotions and thoughts. It is a deep, experiential understanding that can lead to greater self-awareness and personal growth.
“God develops our character in community and tests it in isolation.”
Bill Thrall
Light and darkness in analytical psychology are powerful tools that provide insight into an individual's inner struggles, psychological conditions, and overall emotional states.
The contrast between the two can illuminate the unseen and provide clarity to our spiritual being.
The inner light that shines within us is a reminder of our connection to the divine.
It is a beacon that guides us through our lives and grants us insight and clarity.
Its beauty and power are ever-present, and it serves as a reminder of the truth of life.
Analytical psychologists use light and darkness to explore the depths of the unconscious.
By delving into the contrast between the two, they can gain a better understanding of an individual's inner life and how they interact with the external world.
This understanding can help individuals to overcome their struggles and achieve a greater sense of well-being.
The familiarity we can develop with darkness reveals to us the outline of the “shadow” hidden within it. We recognize that we are the shadow, that we are that darkness.
Darkness reveals to us the outline of the shadow.
What does that even mean?
The Absence of light or illumination makes known to us the description or plan giving us the essential features of an image cast on the ground or other surface by a body intercepting darkness to emphasize and contrast the presence of Light.
The Shadow Arises From Our Subconscious
From a spiritual perspective, the concept of the shadow can be seen as a manifestation of our inner demons or negative energies that we carry within us. These energies may arise from past traumas, unresolved emotions, or societal conditioning that has led us to suppress certain aspects of ourselves.
Adam’s Shadow
The shadow that we try to hide represents the parts of ourselves that are still present within us. Our ego, which was shaped by Adam’s fall, causes us to fear harm and prioritize self-protection. This fear is particularly strong in those who hold themselves in high regard and are concerned with their image. Some individuals may isolate themselves to protect their ego from harm, believing that their worth is based on accomplishments or validation, which can leave them vulnerable to ego injury. It is important to recognize that our true nature encompasses not only our ego and self-image but also our shadow. By accepting all aspects of ourselves, we can live more authentically and not be afraid of ego injury.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor. 12:9-10
What Is A Shadow?
Shadow: n. A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object. v. To block light or radio transmission. (espionage) To secretly or discreetly track or follow another, to keep under surveillance. adj. Unofficial, informal, unauthorized, but acting as though it were.
Having power or influence, but not widely known or recognized.
Extended periods of isolation can have significant and lasting spiritual effects, both positive and negative, contingent upon one’s perception. These effects can have an exponential impact on the mind, ultimately facilitating the transition from physical existence to spiritual existence.
Isolation illuminates a reality many refuse to look at, as the fear of death overwhelms most All
Gods elect are put through whatever it takes to bring them in to the fullness of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:6
When you a become skilled at compartmentalizing the memories of your own mind, due to self-preservation growing up & other destructive aspects, your own memories become fragmented thoughts. If you value yourself at all, you will attempt to find any way to connect them together again, like a puzzle but a puzzle can’t piece itself together from the memory of a single puzzle piece.
So we repress, some at will, calling upon fragments of recall, realizing we don’t remember most of our own life. If we don’t learn to integrate at will, the fragmented personas become too loud to ignore and we have no more choice, we can’t ignore it.
That’s when insanity comes. Insanity doesn’t knock, it busts down your door. In that moment procrastination is no longer an option.
When isolation is met with the force of this level of insanity there are ONLY 2 routes:
1. Go Insane into neverending neurosis.
2. Integrate Self with the memories of repressed Pain and Consciously expand your ability to open all the wounds, even those you forgot existed. Integrating your childhood self into who you are now because your inner child IS STILL YOU!
Isolation, whether forced by outside influences or forced by inward forces, gives a breadth of wisdom that can ONLY be attained through isolation, it works by exposing to your conscious, your unconscious. Revealing your shadow that comes from numerous kinds of suffering and isolation, rejection and abandonment, uniformly consistent throughout life.
There are many of us, but not many talk about it because you will be slandered and abused. Toxic, hard hearted people love to squash any vulnerability you expose to them that makes themselves have to look in the mirror, they will destroy you, then deny it, devalue you and slander.
BE CAREFUL!
Most people avoid this self-realization by being a:
BUSYBODY A meddling person; one who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others
GOSSIP: GOS'SIP, noun. One who runs from house to house, tattling and telling news; an idle tattler. Mere tattle; idle talk. GOS'SIP, verb intransitive To prate; to chat; to talk much. 1. To be a pot-companion. 2. To run about and tattle; to tell idle tales.
SLANDERER noun. A defamer; SLA'NDER, noun 1. A false tale or report maliciously uttered. and tending to injure the reputation of another by lessening him in the esteem of his fellow citizens, by exposing him to impeachment and punishment, or by impairing his means of living; defamation. slander that worst of poisons, ever finds an easy entrance to ignoble minds. 2 Disgrace; reproach; disreputation; ill name. SLA'NDER, verb transitive To defame; to injure by maliciously uttering a false report respecting one; to tarnish or impair the reputation of one by false tales, maliciously told or propagated.
SANCTIMONIOUS Having the appearance of sanctity; as a sanctimonious pretense.
MARTYR One who makes a great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy. These are the most dangerous because they pretend to understand but it's all a show so people will worship them.
But… Those who face it will see Truth in the most Authentic form that is visible to the human mind.
There are no excuses at that point, what is, is, because you don’t run to other people for validation or distraction.
When you have no one to vomit all your complaints onto at every emotional juncture, you learn to actually feel and know your own thoughts and beliefs. You have no choice but to make sense of it because no one is going to psychologically lessen the burden for you.
And in that, God reveals Himself, literally.
This is exactly what Scripture Speaks of if you LISTEN with Ears that Hear.
The Word Holy within the context of when He says “Be Holy as I am Holy” is; WHOLE, COMPLETE, UNFRAGMENTED.
What are we to integrate? Our sin (which lies definitely within our shadow).
Only when we ADMIT, meaning we OWN & stop rejecting our sins (by His HOLY Spirit) can we become whole (Holy). This is repentance.
God says where there is Light, darkness is distinguished.
If we keep our sins by rejecting their existence, locking then in the shadows, how will God take them?
God is the Light.
When we integrate, what we hate within, God brings Light into it, God takes all that darkness, therefore integrating us in order to burn off the chaff.
Suffering and Pain are of the flesh.
Just as the fleshs end is death, so is suffering and pain; therefore whatever suffering we face we know it’s end is death.
God tells us to meet Him in His secret place, the Secret Place is a place of isolation when perceived from human eyes. But in isolation is where you find there is no such thing.
All of God’s greatest works of prophetic writings have come from vessels (men) who were in isolation of some sort.
All of God’s elect were those who were ignored, despised, and made to feel worthless by their peers, but God calls the broken and fragmented into Wholeness and Completeness in Him.
People will mock you when you come into His transformation & claim it’s because they care, when they can only see through their own experience, thinking the limits of their opinions is the limit of the other.
People will also degrade you & claim it’s because you’re worth more than what their eyes see, but they are unable to see with the Eyes that are from Heaven I’m always remember when Paul said:
The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16
People will find you a burden when they see your suffering, especially supposed Christians, they don’t want to see your pain because it causes them to glimpse into their own & that is what humanity avoids, as their ego overruns their perception.
Or they may ignore you and talk about you behind your back out of false kindness because they find power in using you as their scapegoat, all too common.
People will Gaslight, Accuse, Deflect, Reject, & Twist every word, using any tactic to cause your mind to shift down into their realm: the realm of shallowness, land of false light, where we don’t speak of pain, a place where rosy sunglasses are always worn when looking in a mirror.
If you give in to the pressure, you won’t be isolated, you will appear outwardly as the rest but your shadow will grow bigger and bigger, your sins will hide deeper and deeper.
Know that the seed of eternal death lives in the Shadows, lives in the sins, lives in those places that seem foolish to your friends and family but live just as deeply within them as they do you, the only difference is the LIGHT.
Don’t listen to anyone who goes against what God says. There are many false prophets. Trust God in YOU.
Do you Know Isolation, have you truly been embraced?
If so… you know the depth of darkness that the human shadow is hiding within when isolation becomes a companion, reaching the depths of your soul the things that can not be uttered.
When I say you KNOW the shadow’s depths of darkness, I do not mean you know purely intellectually. You Know, as in, you Perceive it directly, experience its cause & effect inwardly, you recognized it as knowledge.
“God develops our character in community and tests it in isolation.”
Bill Thrall
When you are able to discern darkness by simply Seeing into the darkness you know you have become the Light of God.
The familiarity we can develop with darkness reveals an outline of the “shadow” that hides within,7 we recognize we are the shadow, we are that darkness.
Darkness reveals to us the outline of the shadow.
What does that even mean?
In the literal, material:
The Absence of light (or illumination ) makes Known to us the description or plan giving us the essential features (the nuance) of an object cast on a surface this shadow is cast by another body or object, intercepting the darkness, emphasizing and contrasting the presence of Light.
The shadow arises from our subconscious.
The Subconscious is not wholly conscious, meaning it’s not aware of and responding to our surroundings. It is the part of the mind below the level of conscious perception. It is the part of us who acts without our awareness.
Our shadow harbors the Truth of who we are, beneath it’s mask: the human ego. Since we fell in Adam, we feel the compulsion to protect ourselves from the Truth of who we are, fearing ego injury above all else.
Many of us who seclude ourselves were raised to maintain an inflated idea of our own importance, obsessed with our self image, else there would be psychological damage
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor. 12:9-10
SHADOW DEFINITIONS
n. A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
v. To block light or radio transmission.
(espionage) To secretly or discreetly track or follow another, to keep under surveillance.
adj. Unofficial, informal, unauthorized, but acting as though it were.
When you lived an extended span in isolation there develops long-term effects, good & bad, depending on your perception, this impacts your mind exponentially. If you are resilient and intuitive, isolation executes the mission of transitioning consciousness from flesh to Spirit.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:6
When you learn to separate and store memories as a way to protect yourself, those memories can become fragmented thoughts.
If you care about yourself, you will strive to find a way to reconnect them, just like solving a puzzle.
However, a puzzle cannot put itself together using just one piece from its memory.
So we repress, some at will, calling upon fragments of recall, realizing we don’t remember most of our own life.
If we don’t learn to integrate at will, the fragmented personas become too loud to ignore and we have no more choice, we can’t ignore it.
That’s when insanity comes. Insanity doesn’t knock, it busts down your door. In that moment procrastination is no longer an option.
When isolation is met with the force of this level of insanity there are ONLY 2 routes:
1. Go Insane into neverending neurosis.
2. Integrate Self with the memories of repressed Pain.
… consciously expanding your ability to open all the wounds, even those you forgot existed. … integrating your childhood self into who you are now because your inner child IS STILL YOU!
Isolation, whether forced by outside influences or forced by inward forces, gives a breadth of wisdom that can ONLY be attained through isolation, it works by exposing to your conscious, your unconscious.
There are many of us, but not many talk about it because you will be slandered and abused.
Toxic, hard hearted people love to squash any vulnerability you expose to them.
If they have to look in the mirror, some will automatically feel the need to destroy you, then deny it, devalue you and slander.
BE CAREFUL!
People avoid this self-realization by being
BUSYBODY A meddling person; one who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others
GOSSIP: GOS'SIP, noun. One who runs from house to house, tattling and telling news; an idle tattler. Mere tattle; idle talk. GOS'SIP, verb intransitive To prate; to chat; to talk much. 1. To be a pot-companion. 2. To run about and tattle; to tell idle tales.
SLANDERER noun. A defamer; SLA'NDER, noun 1. A false tale or report maliciously uttered. and tending to injure the reputation of another by lessening him in the esteem of his fellow citizens, by exposing him to impeachment and punishment, or by impairing his means of living; defamation. slander that worst of poisons, ever finds an easy entrance to ignoble minds. 2 Disgrace; reproach; disreputation; ill name. SLA'NDER, verb transitive To defame; to injure by maliciously uttering a false report respecting one; to tarnish or impair the reputation of one by false tales, maliciously told or propagated.
SANCTIMONIOUS Having the appearance of sanctity; as a sanctimonious pretense.
MARTYR One who makes a great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy. These are the most dangerous because they pretend to understand but it's all a show so people will worship them.
But… Those who face their shadow will see Truth in the most Authentic form that is visible to the human mind.
There are no excuses at that point because you don’t run to other people for validation or distraction.
When you have no one to vomit all your complaints onto at every emotional juncture, you learn to actually feel and know your own thoughts and beliefs.
You have no choice but to make sense of it because no one is going to psychologically lessen the burden for you.
And in that, God reveals Himself, literally.
This is exactly what Scripture Speaks of if you LISTEN with Ears that Hear.
The Word Holy within the context of when He says “Be Holy as I am Holy” is; WHOLE, COMPLETE, UNFRAGMENTED.
What are we to integrate? Our sin (which lies definitely within our shadow).
Only when we ADMIT, meaning we OWN & stop rejecting our sins (by His HOLY Spirit) can we become whole (Holy). This is repentance.
God says where there is Light, darkness is distinguished.
If we keep our sins by rejecting their existence, locking then in the shadows, how will God take them?
God is the Light.
When we integrate, what we hate within, God brings Light into it, God takes all that darkness, therefore integrating us in order to burn off the chaff.
Suffering and Pain are of the flesh.
Just as the flesh’s end is death, so is suffering and pain; therefore whatever suffering we face we know it’s end is death.
God tells us to meet Him in His secret place, the Secret Place is a place of isolation when perceived from human eyes. But in isolation is where you find there is no such thing.
All of God’s greatest works of prophetic writings have come from vessels (men) who were in isolation of some sort.
All of God’s elect were those who were ignored, despised, and made to feel worthless by their peers, but God calls the broken and fragmented into Wholeness and Completeness in Him.
People will mock you when you come into His transformation & claim it’s because they care, when they can only see through their own experience, thinking the limits of their opinions is the limit of the other.
People will also degrade you & claim it’s because you’re worth more than what their eyes see, but they are unable to see with the Eyes that are from Heaven I’m always remember when Paul said:
The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16
People will find you a burden when they see your suffering, especially supposed Christians, they don’t want to see your pain because it causes them to glimpse into their own & that is what humanity avoids, as their ego overruns their perception.
Or they may ignore you and talk about you behind your back out of false kindness because they find power in using you as their scapegoat, all too common.
People will Gaslight, Accuse, Deflect, Reject, & Twist every word, using any tactic to cause your mind to shift down into their realm: the realm of shallowness, land of false light, where we don’t speak of pain, a place where rosy sunglasses are always worn when looking in a mirror.
If you give in to the pressure, you won’t be isolated, you will appear outwardly as the rest but your shadow will grow bigger and bigger, your sins will hide deeper and deeper.
Know that the seed of eternal death lives in the Shadows, lives in the sins, lives in those places that seem foolish to your friends and family but live just as deeply within them as they do you, the only difference is the LIGHT.
Don’t listen to anyone who goes against what God says. There are many false prophets. Trust God in YOU.
