Today I had my eyes tested for new glasses. I only need them for driving, and middle to further distance. My eyes still read very small print unaided, but don't ask me to watch tennis from the far side of the room. The technical and technological know how brought to bear on my eyeballs was impressive and just a bit scary. I hate the puff-ball test, this hand held machine spitting in your eye! The space invader peripheral scope test is either fun or frustration, and now there's a deep 3d scan to see beneath all the layers and to the very core of the eye, though that costs a bit.
Then there's the choice of frames – my Dolce Gabana frames finally broke at the bridge giving me two designer monocles! After trying on this and that, I settled on a pair that I think fits the shape of my face, and doesn't clash with my grey hair and grey green eyes. And a free pair of sunspecs forbye as weel! When I get them I'll post a photo for those who want to comment on the effortless air of intellectual nous :))
Amongst the great gifts of life, our eyes. Much of what we do for work, pleasure, learning and sharing comes from our visual capacity. I'm not surprised that in John's Gospel several words are used to describe different ways of seeing; to glimpse or gaze; to see superficially or to see and understand; to stare with wonder or glance carelessly; to see beneath the surface or beyond the horizon. No wonder when it comes to understanding, or imagining we see with our mind's eye. We get it. Or as John would say we apprehend it, then we comprehend it.
Amongst the gifts I've enjoyed most in recent years is my wee sony camera, with its digital eye. More and more I now look at what I see, and see what I look at. No surprise that one of my favourite writers, Thomas Merton, as early as the 50's and 60's was seeing more deeply into the world through the lens of a camera. What that Trappist brother would now make of a digital camera that can take 500 photos at the cost a charcging the battery, and the freedom to discard, edit, crop, reproduce, print from a home computer – I don't know. I guess merton would be suspicious, even antagonistic to such technological ease and the excesses it spawns; and then too, I think he would find ways to discipline and redeem such facility to serve the deeper levels of human responsiveness to the world – wonder, compassion, praise and awareness. The photos above were taken on the way to Montrose last Sunday – colour is one of God's recurring surprises – give us this day our daily dose of colour… The Red Campion is one of my favourite meadow plants – you can see why.
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