Images

There are many cliches that describe the power of what we see: "Seeing is believing." (Or the contrary, "don't believe everything you see," indicating by the negative how powerful an influence sight has on belief.) "A picture is worth a thousand words." "What you see is what you get." "I saw it with my own eyes." Etc.

Jewish Sages attest to the power of the eye to lead astray: "the eye sees, the heart desires, the person sins." One can harm by just a glance, such is the power of the "evil eye" - one can attract the attention, the gaze, of evil. Or turn such a gaze on another.

Of course, there is also the "good eye," generating an aura of benevolence by one's look. How we see things defines our attitude and creates an atmosphere: "Look on others with a "good eye."

We are hard-wired for sight. We can debate which sense, sight or hearing, is currently dominant in human beings, but we clearly operate in a visual world. One reason infants sleep so much is they need to form neurons to process information. They need to sort things out in the brain, as they work through the sensory overload they receive from their five senses. And a major part of that work is making sense of what they see. (Consider how much time an infant spends staring at his or her hand, moving it back and forth, perfecting the eye-hand coordination.)

All this raises a question: Why do we recall some images more than others? Why do some images - sights - come to mind constantly and others not at all?

We "see in our mind's eye" not just those we see more physically. We see trees constantly, for instance, but that rarely is an image that comes to mind, unbidden or otherwise.

Things out of context, things associated with trauma, things associated with triumph - the brain-sight recalls these strongly. These may be things that attract or things that repel.

I see two lessons from all this: One, our vision is limited to a very narrow part of the light spectrum. For all we see, even in such detail, there is so much more that we don't see. This should give us pause. If we can see so little, should we not strive to see as much value as we can? We should ask ourselves, is there spiritual significance in what I'm looking at? Does what I'm seeing inspire me to acts of goodness and kindness, does it enhance my understanding or appreciation of G-dliness?

We cannot always answer yes, but we should at least be truthful about the answer.

The second lesson emphasizes the importance of the commandment, Do Not Worship Idols - the first of the seven universal commands that apply to all humanity. Idolatry begins not with belief, but with sight. It is not just seeing things that should not be seen. Most of us turn away from, don't look at, filth. Unless mesmerized, we don't gaze upon the corrupt. Idolatry involves "misunderstanding what we see" - and that misunderstanding is often a conscious self-deception.

There is G-dliness within creation, a perceptible G-dliness. That should be the indelible image in our eyes, the image we see in our eyes.