The Horizon

simplicity // 20
the Horizon

I wonder where you go, when you need to look to the horizon? The sea draws me, intuitively, it seems, when I want to gaze without interruption, as far as I can see. Perhaps you climb a hill or a mountain. Perhaps you find a desert or a wilderness place.

The horizon is inextricably linked with our seeing. It invites us, for a change, not to notice the smaller details in front of us, the distractions and the urgent reminders. Instead, it helps us literally to rest and refocus our eyes, and provokes an inner way of seeing. It re-opens the eyes of our heart to the infinite and eternal. And it helps us to return, once more, to the minutae before us with fresh vision.

We can never visit the horizon physically, of course. It is, inevitably, beyond us. Yet still it draws our soul to the very edge of the physical world, to experience the point at which the known world bleeds into the unknown beyond. And sometimes, on a misty day, you can’t even see the join.

Restless explorers have always wondered what lies beyond the horizon, and have ventured to cross that line, towards new lands, through strange seas. We may not literally be setting sail, but we can go into this day with the same sense of exploration, mystery and wonder. After all, “the real voyage of discovery,” as Marcel Proust wrote, “lies not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”




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rsvp:

“When I thought about our journey in life, a dear friend’s funeral came to mind, as it was five years last Sunday that she died of cancer. At her funeral, we heard the story written by Bishop Brent - about a ship which sails towards the horizon. Someone says, ‘She is gone!’ and the ship sails from our sight. Yet it begins to appear to others watching her coming over their horizon, and so they shout, ‘There she comes!’ The story made me think of our journey with and towards God’s heavenly kingdom. Our lives, a passing moment on our individual journey towards everlasting life – coming home.” Sue

“I opened your email late in the day (The Road Home). So it wasn’t that I’d deliberately taken a different route home from school, but it just so happened that I did. On the way I passed a kindly lady whistling to a blackbird on a fence. Astonishingly the blackbird sang back to her and she told me he often did. What was remarkable was not only had this woman struck up a relationship with a blackbird, but also the beauty of the blackbird's (a common place garden bird) song. Somethimes you forget to appreciate the things you see every day.” Kate


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action point:

I love this exercise - “Soft Eyes” - from the writer, scientist and philosopher George Leonard. It’s a way of seeing afresh, for those who can’t get a view of the horizon, today. Here’s a quick pre-amble, which you’re welcome to skip.

Usually, the way we see involves focusing on specific objects, giving them shape, meaning, a name. It’s an analytical way of seeing with “hard eyes”. Seeing with hard eyes is useful for many situations, but not all, says Leonard. “Soft eyes” provides an alternative. It’s a way of seeing that’s receptive and synthesising, instead of proactively analytical.

With soft eyes we tend to perceive a whole field of vision in terms of energy and motion, instead of individual details. Peripheral vision is enhanced, depth of field appears greater, and colours intensify. You become aware of much more going on within your vision, and it’s a practical skill that some sports players intuitively have mastered – the ones who seem to be able to see everything that’s going on around them, without specifically looking. It also helps you to enter a deeper state of consciousness (accessing the ‘alpha’ state, as it is known, which is generally associated with closed eyes – taking you beyond the day-to-day busy ‘beta’ brainwaves which, while helping you to deal with the minutae in front of you, cause you stress if you stay in that state for too long.)

Here it is:

Begin by standing, with eyes closed, in a relaxed way. Breathe normally, naturally. With the pads of your fingers, very gently massage your eyeballs through the closed eyelids until they seem to soften, if only slightly. Let your hands drop to your sides, and focus on your breathing. After a few breaths, let your eyes open and let the world come in. Don’t stare or stop your eyes from blinking. Don’t reach out with your eyes to focus on anything. Just focus on nothing in particular. Your eyes are simply open. Now, let yourself become aware of the entire field of vision, giving no part of it more importance or time than any other. Let any movement or shape or colour simply be integral to the whole.

Stay like this for several minutes, relax, and notice what you notice.

... from George Leonard’s The Silent Pulse: A Search for the Perfect Rhythm that Exists in Each of Us.

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May you see, today.
Go well!

Brian