Without: Slaves to Beauty

What a magical sense sight is, a power that allows us to transform the vibrations of light all around us into a vivid world of color, shadow, and dimension. It’s all the more remarkable that the creation of this visual world takes place within the confines of our eyes and brain.

Yet, this enchantment comes with its downsides as well. As the primary sense with which we humans interact with the world, eyesight shapes our desires, dictating how we spend our lives.  We expend a good chunk of our limited time striving to align the external world with our visual preferences, to satisfy our aesthetic cravings. We become slaves to beauty: fine art, modern design, physically attractive partners, Italian cars, Swiss watches, vacation vistas, meticulously curated social media profiles complete with digitally enhanced selfies.

Beauty is, of course, subjective and our affinity - or perhaps addiction – to it is constantly being influenced by brands and peers alike. A culture’s voracious pursuit of beauty is a good thing. It suggests a level of fulfillment of basic needs for the majority. Few among us would prefer a Bic lighter over a Picasso, but in the Amazon, the former would hold much greater value (if you’ve ever attempted kindling a fire with sticks, you’d gladly immolate Guernica to not have to repeat the experiment).

Do blind people want Rolexes? Are they too as materialistic as the sighted? Is materialism itself a natural byproduct of eyesight? These are important questions for those of us who devote the lion’s share of our lives to acquiring more stuff, chasing shortlived dopamine hits in handbags and horsepower.

Within: Furnishing the Inner Realm

Occasionally, during meditation, I close my eyes and imagine I’m in a Soviet Gulag or confined to a North Korean box only slightly larger than my body. Then I imagine myself as a Persian king surrounded by all the comforts known to the world, or a Raj in a golden palace. However, in this very moment, now, none of that matters. Deprived of sight, I’m left with only this internal experience. But how little effort I expend attaining luxuries for it! If only I developed my internal space with the same zeal I attempted to curate the world around me.

The real question we should be asking is this: How do I feel when my eyes are closed? Anxious? Inundated by a steady stream of negative narration? Or serene, content, fulfilled?

This inner abode, this fortress, is always available to you. In fact, is your primary residence, the actual place from which you live every moment of your life. Vision merely deceives you into believing it’s the address on your driver’s license. You are too preoccupied with the world of color, shadow, and dimension, so you leave your internal state neglected.

No amount of material wealth can provide internal comfort. You can’t furnish your inner world with a shopping spree at West Elm. Through virtue, clear priorities, and mindful living, we can attain peace. We can quiet our inner demons, or better yet, befriend them. We can transform our inner space into a sanctuary of serenity that requires no external validation because we’ve realized wholeness within.

Then, when we open our eyes, it’s not only we who take in the light of the world, but the world that takes in our light as well.