Seeing with the eyes of the heart

The tiny owl sat in the uppermost branches of the cottonwood tree behind my house. Despite the harassment from blue jays, grosbeaks, chickadees, and red polls, he tucked his head beneath his wing. At that moment, he wasn’t looking for a meal which the small birds could have easily provided had the little owl been in the mood to eat; all he wanted was some rest.

I watched that tiny Northern Pygmy owl for hours. When sleep eluded him, he cocked his tiny head and watched the other birds flit about the branches and tried to ignore their incessant chirping intended, I’m sure, to get him to to go somewhere else so they could feel safe again. Several times, he tried to hide his head from the watery, northern winter sun. I don’t know if he ever did manage to sleep, but I gave him full marks for his effort to ignore the light and the noise.

I love owls. Their solemn dignity, their seldom-heard and sonorous voices, and the wisdom in their legends all appeal to me greatly. I think they’re magnificent.

Turning up the light

Recently, I read an article about the fluorescent properties of the feathers and beaks of some birds. Did you know many owls have fluorescent feathers? I didn’t. You can learn more here.

Birds can see in the ultraviolet range of light – humans can’t, but several types of birds have beaks and feathers that glow in vivid, fluorescent colours. We can only see these features when they are exposed to blacklight. Birds can see them all the time which both astounds me and makes me slightly envious.

Owls, which are most often shades of grey, brown, and white, are bright raspberry-pink and brilliant blue when seen under a broader spectrum of light. In the case of owls, the age of the feather determines the colour it exudes.

Seeing is believing

It started me thinking about what the world would look like if we could see the way birds see. I suppose it would be a bit like when a person who is colour-blind is given light-correcting glasses and can suddenly see colours the way the rest of us do. But more, so much more.

Vision has everything to do with the way our eyes are made and how they work. Light enters our eyes and bounces off the retina covered with light-absorbing rod and cone cells. The light is then transformed into electrical impulses which race along the optic nerve to be interpreted as images by the brain.

It’s an astonishing process!

And it’s all about light – how much light, which wavelength of light, and how we filter that light.

Seeing with the eyes of the heart

Imagine that the spectrum of light we see with is love, kindness, goodness, truth.

And imagine that what is ‘seen’ are the hearts and souls of the people who share our world.

Can we all just take a moment and think about that … … … …

What if our ordinary selves – blandly brown, grey, and white like owls – were suddenly illuminated with the fluorescent brilliance of raspberry red love or cobalt blue kindness or lemony yellow goodness?

We look at people through our own filters created by our past experiences, good and bad. We make assumptions and judgments on people’s characters based on what we see, or even simply what we think we see. We jump to conclusions based on the language people use, whether their grammar is correct, or their voice is accented. We look at clothing, tattoos, and hairstyles, and we form opinions. We judge by religion or country of birth or income. And we miss the most important and essential parts of people.

What if, instead of colour, we could see intention, personality, and moral quality? What if we could see the darker shades created by depression, abuse, or loneliness?

We likely won’t ever share the amazing kind of vision that birds have been blessed with, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn to see past the exterior and see into the truth of a person’s character. Every time we slow down, put aside hastily made assumptions, and really listen to the stories of people, we learn to see with the eyes of our hearts.

And that my friends, is when we are stopped in our tracks, blinded by the brilliant colours of the heart of humanity.

I know. It isn’t all sweetness and light out there, but you can choose to see in colour or you can choose to see in shades of grey. Either way, I guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Love and light…