Seeing the Invisible

I have long believed in the saying that I am not a mortal person having a spiritual experience. Rather, I am a spiritual person having a mortal experience. I first started to ponder this when I was in high school, and being somewhat of a tease, I would tell my friends that they didn't really exist.

The reason I gave for that statement was that everything I see, touch, hear, taste or smell exists only in my mind. Why? Because that is where I perceive it. If my mind couldn't process the signal from my senses, they would not exist - for me. Just like a blind person doesn't spend money on light bulbs.

Over the years I have come to realize that, although I was teasing my childhood friends, I had stumbled onto something very profound. My perception creates the person I see. And this is true of all of us. Bigotry is the evil example of this truth. If I perceive someone as a bad person, no matter what he or she does, I will condemn it. Even if they do something good for me, I will look for and identify an ulterior motive - even if I have to jump to a wrong conclusion (see my blog about questions).

On the other hand, if I see someone as a good person, even when they make mistakes, I will look upon them with compassion and understanding. I will seek to help, guide, and if nothing else, just listen. And here is the miracle. Everyone can be a good person - I just have to see them as such. In other words, I have to see the invisible.

If I am a spiritual person having a mortal experience, then so are they. That means that the spirit within them - the eternal part of their being - is good. Their spirit and my spirit came from the same source - the source of ultimate love. And that is a source that cannot create anything but that which is good and necessary.

I love this joke. Mrs. Smith was known throughout town as a woman who could always find something good in everyone. She would always point out the good qualities of her fellow man to her neighbors. One day, a minister decided to test her ability. While visiting he said, "Surely, Mrs. Smith, you cannot find anything good to say about Satan!" The old woman thought for a moment and then replied, "Well, I can say that he is a very hard worker," and with a twinkle in her eye she continued with, "which is more than I can say for some preachers."

Seeing the invisible is recognizing that it is in the invisible of our minds that we see everything. Our perceptions - our thoughts - are our realities. It does take practice, but if you simply choose to see your fellowman as a spiritual being - not a perfect being - then you will see that there is good inside. And this requires choosing to love rather than to judge, label and condemn.

When we let go of our perceptions and send out love, that is what colors our perceptions. We see through the eyes of love and fell compassion. We see that the those who have done wrong - those who have hurt us and deceived us - as troubled souls.

I also love the saying, "There but for the Grace of God, go I." Who is to say that if I had walked the path of the other person and had been taught the lessons in life that they had, that I, too, would not have behaved similarly? And that is how we save ourselves and our humanity.

We are the only creatures on this planet that have the ability to see the invisible. So I am sending out an invitation to the world. Please look for the invisible person who resides within the man, woman or child standing before you! Please look for the invisible person encased within your own body!


If more of us would see the invisible, more of us would see reality. More of us would see beauty, because, as Tagore says, "When we see beauty, we know it as truth."