Windows to the Soul
Eyes are windows to the soul. Peer deeply enough and we can glimpse something essential in there. So we hold a gaze. We search a face. And there we can connect, right?
But suppose we’re looking in the wrong place. What if, contrary to popular and poetic phraseology, the eyes are not windows? Consciousness is not located inside the body.
Conceptually consider entering someone’s dream and speaking with the protagonist. With whom are we actually dialoging? The bodies we encounter, including the one we call our own, are much the same. Vivid, persuasive, but not where the person resides.
The eyes are not windows to the soul. Thoughts are. And they’re determined by the mind we’ve chosen. The eyes reflect a body looking back. Thoughts demonstrate a mind at work.
Watch what’s actually coming through the window. Anxious thoughts, grievances on loop, the relentless commentary about me and mine. We don’t author our thoughts. The ego mind delivers one set. Spirit delivers another. The thoughts arriving in awareness are simply the broadcast of that prior choice.
Thus when we engage with another, it is always on the level of mind. As A Course in Miracles puts it, “Minds are joined; bodies are not.” We can project with others a world of me-ness and its focus on lack, gain, separation, and preservation. Or we can truly unite and reflect a realm of joyous peace.
We’re quite familiar with the former. The practice of awakening begins with turning inward. Looking at our thoughts, with gentleness and without judgment. Recognizing their source. With practice all windows dissolve and the eternal soul is revealed.
Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll explore thoughts as windows to the soul, and discover the quiet freedom that follows. I look forward to seeing you then.