335. The role of the bodily eye in seeing God
335. THE ROLE OF THE BODILY EYE IN SEEING GOD
We seem to have a dilemma. On the one hand, God is not a body, so our bodily eye cannot see Him. But on the other hand, if our bodily eye cannot see God, what will it be good for in the Beatific Vision? Is all this talk of “seeing God” “face to face” mere metaphor for the kind of abstract intellectual knowledge sought by the philosopher, or the philosopher in us? Doesn’t the lover seek more than the philosopher? Doesn’t the Bible tell us something more than philosophy tells us about our eternal bliss?
God can nowise be seen with the eyes of the body or perceived by any of the senses, as that which is seen directly, neither here nor in heaven. . . .
Yet it will see it as an object of indirect vision, because on the one hand the bodily sight will see so great a glory of God in bodies, especially in the glorified bodies and most of all in the body of Christ, and, on the other hand, the intellect will see God so clearly, that God will be perceived in things seen with the eye of the body, even as life is perceived in speech. For although our intellect will not then see God from seeing His creatures (“from” here signifies a cause-effect relationship), yet it will see God in His creatures seen corporeally. This manner of seeing God corporeally is indicated by Augustine. . . . It is very credible that we shall so see the mundane bodies of the new heaven and the new earth, as to see most clearly God everywhere present . . . as when we see men . . . we do not believe, but see, that they live (S92,2).
What a fascinating analogy! How is life perceived “in” speech? Not in the same way that sounds or syllables are. How is happiness perceived “in” a smile, even by a month—old baby? How is another person’s personality perceived “in” their words? How does a lover recognize his beloved’s spirit “in” his or her love letters? How do we perceive the eyes as “the windows of the soul”? By intuition, by wisdom, by “the third eye”, by the inner eye, by the eye of the heart. “The heart has reasons which the reason does not know.” It does not just feel, it knows.
Jesuit spirituality traditionally focuses on “seeing God in all things”. This is an excellent way of rehearsing for one aspect of the Beatific Vision. Of course, it must be based on a “fanatical” love and longing for God and “detachment” from creatures (or at least a willingness to be detached from them for God’s sake). Otherwise “seeing God in all things” means merely a religious veneer and excuse for worldliness.
We cannot see “life” as we can see bodies, though life is in bodies. For life has no color, shape, or size, as bodies do. Yet, as Augustine notes, we “see life in” men when we see their bodies. Life is not an object of our belief or opinion, or of our faith or trust, but of our sight. But it is (what St. Thomas calls) “indirect sight” rather than direct sight. It is what Michael Polanyi calls The Tacit Dimension.
God should be the object of our “indirect sight” even now. That would make this life the perfect rehearsal for the next. It is what Brother Lawrence called “the practice of the presence of God”.
The key to doing this is very simple. It is love. It is the lover who finds resemblances to his beloved and reminders of his beloved in everything. The non-lover may do it occasionally, when he remembers. But most of the time he forgets, and is distracted. The lover does not forget and is not distracted as much because he does not want to be distracted.
But the love that accomplishes this is a choice, not a feeling. This habit of seeing and feeling God in all things is not innate or automatic. It has to be cultivated. It develops gradually, as a plant grows. And the plant food is regular daily prayer. Only by means of many repeated acts of will, choosing to pray even when we do not feel like it (which is probably most of the time!), can we reach the goal of seeing and feeling God’s presence everywhere. Only the love of willing, often in the teeth of contrary feelings, can bring us to the love that sees, feels and enjoys God’s presence. Only our continual spiritual warfare against our spiritual ADD, plus His grace, can bring us His peace.