Seeing And Being

“Blessed Are Your Eyes For They See” Said Our Lord To His Favored Disciples. And In Saying This Jesus Made A Sharp Contrast Between His Keen-Eyed Followers And Those About Them In Whom Was Fulfilled The Saying Of The Prophet “Seeing Ye Shall See And Shall Not Perceive.” There Are Eyes And There Are Eyes. There Are Eyes Which See And There Are Eyes Which Do Not See. Now As In The Days Of Our Lord It Is A Blessed Thing To Have Seeing Eyes. “Our Sight” Says Addison “Is The Most Perfect And Most Delightful Of Our Senses. It Fills The Mind With The Largest Variety Of Ideas Converses With Objects At The Greatest Distance And Continues Longest In Action Without Being Tired Or Satiated With Its Proper Enjoyments.” But There Is Seeing And There Is Seeing; There Is A Seeing That Sees And There Is A Seeing That Does Not See. A Dog Can See A Fine Painting Or A Piece Of Faultless Sculpture; But What Is A Dog’S Sight Of Either Colored Canvas Or Glowing Marble? A Cow Can Look Upon A Cathedral Or A Bird Upon A Landscape But What Can Cow Or Bird See Of The Real Or Of The Ideal In Landscape Or Cathedral? Many A Man Gains No More From His Seeing A Thing Of Beauty Or A Scene Of Grandeur Than If He Were A Dog A Cow Or A Bird There Must Be Soul In The Seeing To Have Enjoyment In The Sight. “You Would Be Surprised” Said The Intelligent Proprietor Of One Of Our Most Attractive Mountain Resorts “To Know How Few Persons There Are Even Among Our Summer Guests Who Appreciate Fine Scenery. Many Who Come Here Come For The Pure Air Or The Retired Location; They Have No Eye For The Scenery.” Then He Told Of A Morning Scene Of Rarest Beauty When The Fogs From The River Valley Were Rising Like Waves Of Molten Silver Up Along The Verdant Hillsides While The Mountains On Every Hand Towered Grandly Above The Sea Of Sun-Lit Vapor. In His En¬Thusiasm Over The Sight He Had Called To It The Attention Of One Of His City Guests With The Exclamation “Isn’T That Beautiful!” The Unexpected Response Of His Prosaic And Dulleyed Companion Was “Why No. I Don’T Think It Is Beautiful. I Think It Is A Pretty Rough Country.” Sahara Would Have Been A Pleasanter Region Than The Yosemite For That Man’S Eyes To Rest On. The Trouble In His Case Was Not With The Scenery But With The Seer.