Vision Quest

One of the things I really hate about having sub-par eyesight is waking up. On a good waking experience, light streams in the room and I can just make out the brownish blob that is my nightstand, and then lean in to locate my glasses so I can see clearly. On a bad waking experience, it is pitch dark, a kid is crying, I blindly knock my glasses into the black abyss that was my floor, I give up trying to find them as the crying gets more desperate, I trip over the dog and seek the dull light of the night-light in which ever kid's room is playing host to the tears, as I navigate from memory where furniture is supposed to reside.

Thing is, I can operate without seeing clearly. I really shouldn't drive or try precision tasks without corrective lenses, but I can manage to barely function. I can live, just not for the best.

Physical vision and mental vision are pretty much the same, as I see it. I mean, how often do you seem to walk through life with a cloudy focus, ambling about from familiar point to familiar point, seeking the comfort of something solid and safe because you can't see where you are going.

I really wish we could put on some sort of glasses or contact for the brain, so we could think clearly. But then, maybe we can.

I've heard a lot of people talk about the benefits of meditation. I'd love to try it, but I have a real problem turning my mind off. The times I have been successful at this, the benefits have been great. There is a restfulness, if not a sense of clarity that comes. Others may keep a diary or journal. This is a great way to keep track of what has happened to you, and it allows you to look back over those events to try to gather some meaning. Alas, I have terrible penmanship.

Music helps me get vision, but try as I might, I can't always be sure if the song is going to inspire me. A song that may open my eyes to a thousand ideas will one day be dry and empty. Movies are the same- I often get a glimpse of a vision, but eventually, if I keep going back to that well, it too will be dry.

As a spiritual person, I should say reading the Bible and praying bring me vision. They do, but not with any more consistency that the other techniques. I will occasionally catch a passage that sticks with me, kind of like, "1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor. --Isaiah 61:1-3

For a long time this one really pushed me and gave me an idea of where I was going. But the problem is, our vision must grow and live and breath and move. Were I to have the same vision at 31 that I had at 21, I would not have grown and matured as I should. Sure, the core can be the same, but the rest of it needs to flesh out. Jesus himself told us that we would do more than him- meaning, as I take it, that the actions he did that inspired us should simply be stepping stones to continuing that work in a new and different way.

So how do we get vision, if our methods are working at a less than 100% level? Do we try to make it up as we go along? Or is the issue that vision should not have birth in us- that vision should come from somewhere else and use us as a conduit to being realized?

The prophets of the Old Testament were men of vision. Not their vision- but vision from a greater source. In order for them to have vision- they must first experience a revelation.

To Be Continued...