Sunday, June 14, 2009

Sunday Reflection - Vision

Helen Keller, a woman who had neither sight nor hearing is credited as saying, "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision."

How many of us have sight? Well if we are on the computer, it stands to reason we can see. But that doesn't mean we necessarily have a vision.

Vision does not require functioning eyes, but it does require a mind with an intellect that is capable of producing a dream, an imagination, and a reasonably attainable goal. Looking back at the many visions that have come to fruition over the many years, I have to wonder how many of them truly started with pure luck?

Some, maybe. But I would have to say that the vast majority of them were born of a vision created in the mind of a person who dared to set a goal, came up with a plan, and implemented it through skill, perseverance, and hard work.

Helen Keller had to have some vision or else how could she have any real knowledge or understanding. While I cannot connect with her in most of her political leanings, we can come to appreciate how hard she must have worked to break out of her isolation that was imposed upon her, through no fault of her own.

Others have been credited with defining vision. Jonathan Swift is quoted as saying, "Vision is the art of seeing the invisible." Maybe we can modify that just a bit to read: Vision is the art of seeing the unseen.

If it were not for my faith, I honestly believe I would be devoid of vision and understanding, about a great many things in this world. Without it, my vision would be altered, maybe even non-existent.

And what is faith?
Many people have tried to define it over the many years. But I think Paul best defines it in Hebrews 11:1, saying:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.


When we think about it, the definition is somewhat abstract. But at the same time it's still concrete. In some ways, it's tangible, but also intangible; confusing, but otherwise clear.

Maybe understanding faith is murky, but there are things we can understand about the need for vision. Solomon wrote clearly and concisely, in Proverbs 29: 18, the following:

Where there is no vision, the people perish.


We have heard the saying "the blind leading the blind". It is my belief that Solomon, being the wise man he was, had a deeper understanding of this concept than anyone else in his day. And although his personal life became a mess in his later years, he had ample wisdom to govern, as one of the fairest and most justice-oriented kings in the history of the world.

For us, we need not a kingdom to require or acquire a vision. All we need is an open heart and an open mind, then allow our intellects to work uninhibited. What we cannot formulate on our own, I believe God will make up the difference. Once we have it, we can see the way we should lead those who have been charged to our care. Families, those under us at work, all need guidance. We cannot guide if our vision is lacking or tainted.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Were we to pretend that we are looking at a very sick patient, an enlightened physician might decide that it is possible that an ailment has more than one cause. In this case, the patient is society. Where do we begin our in-depth diagnosis, which is necessary before we decide about a treatment or likely prognosis?

In this case, not only does the patient suffer from loss of vision, he may also lack hearing; there may be evidence of a stroke, since he does seem to understand much, either. If we use the term “blind leading the blind,” we assume that those with all of their faculties understand what we mean. This is impossible among individuals who cannot hear, or worse, cannot comprehend. There can be no vision if our patient even lacks the ability to care one way, or another. Nor can he have any faith. He cannot imagine, know, or understand what is going on around him.

There is no other explanation for the path our citizens have taken this country, other than the real possibility that most of our countrymen are suffering from a severe stroke. We cannot concern ourselves about opening hearts until we first find a way to restore the mind. And as you know better than I do, one never fully recovers from a stroke. Of course, this discussion appears to demonstrate the wisdom of Erasmus, who observed, “In the land of the blind, a one-eyed man is king.” That would be Obama, of course, who himself appears to suffer a serious impairment of his right lobe.

LA Sunset said...

//There is no other explanation for the path our citizens have taken this country, other than the real possibility that most of our countrymen are suffering from a severe stroke.//

Excellent analogy. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke can resolve with very little residual. But that all depends on how fast treatment is sought. The more time that passes from the onset of symptoms, the more residual may occur.

At any rate, we are needing treatment right now. The government is exacerbating the situation and the damage is being done. America needs to wake up and seek treatment soon, or permanent paralysis can and will result.

Z said...

Personally, I think it's been a little too much heart and too little brain lately, you're right.
Common Sense got replaced by Political Correctness.
How do you get over PC?

That's my vision...This whole country needs a Miss Annie Sullivan, though she could be construed as an enabler in this analogy...At least I THINK we can still have our eyesight and hearing corrected?
I'm not sure.

Ticker said...

There is a Greek word for vision as used in Proverbs 29:18 and that word is Chazown.

Those who have Chazown have four gifts; One the gift of focus. It is the gift that if you don’t have it, others have it for you. Second is the gift of Endurance; without it there will always be trouble in life and success will be unreachable. The third is Peace; Without peace we can not focus, we can not endure and we certainly will not aquire the fourth gift which is Passion: Without Passion our Chazown is dead. We will wander off on rabbit trails (lose our focus), we will be easily discouraged ( lack endurance) and we will be disgruntled, angry and often times sad ( Loss of Peace).
It has been said that “Everyone ends up somewhere. But few people end up somewhere on purpose.” With out vision/Chazown we will be among those who end up somewhere still seeking the somewhere that we haven’t found yet.

As you said Sunset, attaining vision/Chazown requires that we have faith and you certainly gave a great example from the Apostle Paul as to what faith is. Without faith can one actually have Chazown?

Faith is difficult to understand and I will not attempt to address the subject here however I would like to direct you to an article which is located on my wife’s blog which perhaps can shed a bit of light of the matter .
(http://willhefindfaith.blogspot.com/2009/05/have-faith-in-god-mark-1122.html)

LA Sunset said...

//Personally, I think it's been a little too much heart and too little brain lately, you're right.//

Emotions are strong things. Without them and intellect together, we would not be human. But as you say, we have tilted too much to the side of emotions and allowed that part of our psyche to overrule the intellect's natural counterbalance.

LA Sunset said...

Ticker thanks for the Greek lesson on Chazown.

Focus is certainly an important component of vision and might very well be the hardest to maintain when the waters are rough.

I have always believed that peace is not an emotion, but it is an understanding. Vision, in some instances, requires some understanding of what we are seeing. If we comprehend what we see, we have peace.

Always On Watch said...

Sadly, Helen Keller was a leftist. I'm not deprecating her -- merely stating the fact I discovered after I had spent years admiring her and what she achieved in the face of all the cards being stacked against her.

Mustang said: We cannot concern ourselves about opening hearts until we first find a way to restore the mind.

That will be an uphill climb. Some are so damaged that their minds cannot recover.

Ticker said...

I actually made an error in calling the word Chazown Greek. I get confused sometimes when trying to do more than one thing at a time and yesterday I was. I was researching some Greek words just prior to reading your post. The word is actually Hebrew. I asked forgiveness for failing to catch my error before posting. It would appear that I was not focused!