Lets Talk about the Sight…
Having “eyes to see”, does not mean that you will see clearly. It doesn’t make the doubts go away. I used to think that, maybe, if I could see then I could be more certain of my reality; that the world as I breath it is real. I was wrong.
In fact, just the opposite happened.
All gifts can be confusing, and “open eyes” are not an exception. They are the showpiece of confusion. And just like any other gift, it is as much a curse as it is a blessing. The occasional doubts that sometimes plague the late hours become more frequent and more debilitating.
How do you tell what’s real and what’s not? You ask yourself if any of it is real or if it’s all just your imagination. Or maybe you’re only conjuring up what you wish to see.
There are moments that are so clear to you, that any other truth would be senseless- absurd. There are times of intense and unrelenting fogginess where you are neither here nor there. Lastly, there are the moments of normality, where you question if you ever saw anything at all.
I can’t speak for anyone else. I can only speak through my personal experiences. But if you’re anything like me-
Your depression will be worse.
Your anxiety will be worse.
Derealization is a frequent visitor.
All that being said. Skepticism is not a bad thing. Skepticism is a very important tool when dealing with the Other and things less concretely bound by our limitations. However, the manners of thinking that come from compulsive anxiety is not true skepticism.
It’s a biaism against the self.
While you shouldn’t assume all that you see to be true, it can also be injurious to assume it all to be false. You will find that doing so closes yourself off from many potentially beautiful and amazing experiences. True, it can be terrifying. Truly terrifying. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
It’s also good to understand that sometimes the mode of sight will change. Liminality by nature and etymologically is not a concrete thing. At least not in a way we are to fully grasp. Remember, our eyes are still physical. We are organic. We are biology. We have limits. Having the true sight does not necessarily mean that what you see is something in its completeness. It does not mean you can see everything. It simply means that you can see more.
Think a moment on colors. Every color you can think of, every spectrum of light, can be reduced to one shade of another that you know. But what of the colors you can’t think of? What about the colors you’ve never seen, never heard of? The mantas shrimp has nine more color receptors than we do. Can you picture that they see? What it must look like? If a mantas shrimp could talk, do you think they could describe it? Biologically we can’t see what they can. No matter how we break it down, no matter what adjectives we use, no matter what the artists paint, the musicians sing, we can not see through their eyes. We can get the notion, but we cannot comprehend the same way. We have limits. And- if we were to talk to this shrimp, and they WERE to describe it, would they use other shrimp-y things that we humans haven’t knowledge of? No, Of course not. That would do no good. The Mantas Shrimp would have to describe these things by using concepts that are familiar to us.
It’s in this way that we open discourse with the other. Because of our limitations, the “Others” would also have to use ways by which we are individually familiar.
Perhaps this is.. with aliens?
Perhaps this is with.. poltergeist? Maybe not…and yet- maybe so?
Perhaps this is with literal symbolism? With doors, with string, and the spiders web.
This is part of the reason that divination is so effective. By using physical representation, we can interpret the divine or simple messages.
Take biblomancy for instance. Bibliomancy, if you’re unaware, is the act of divination by flipping through a book. The message is communicated by the “Others” essentially by quoting what is available to them and us. If the quoted verse is Matthew 27:5, “And he [Judas] cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself”, we wouldn’t usually (hopefully) receive it literally. A more likely interpretation would be that in order to achieve one’s goals, that individual must cast off their limitations (perhaps the silver is represented as something regarded as important by many but in this case prevents the growth of the individual) and die to themselves to grow back stronger. It could also be interpreted in the same way as the tarot’s Hanged Man. The point is, that when engaging with the other, the place of understanding met must be a place that those involved can all understand.
Many times the sight is like this. If you are seeing things related to something you have put a lot of time or interest in, while you shouldn’t assume it to be true, that doesn’t necessarily make what you see invalid. Perhaps it’s just the best way that being saw fit to approach you- for better or worse; trickery or trustworthy.
If you see a rabbit in a waistcoat, if you see an alien, if you see anything that isn’t necessarily represented in folklore, don’t immediately discredit your experience. Study. Read the folklore, pay attention to what what you saw does or says. Does it sound like something you can relate it too? Or does it sound like you? Because of our limitations- we sometimes interpret things the only way we can. Use discernment.
