Do you see?

The last few days the message to me has been about looking.  Looking within, looking without, looking for God, looking for beauty.  Do you see? Are you looking?

Saturday night Melanie and I went to the movies to see a documentary called Jay Myself.  We knew nothing about it, and it turned out to be the story of a photographer Jay Meisel .  Here is the description of the movie from Rotten Tomatoes:


"JAY MYSELF documents the monumental move of renowned photographer and artist, Jay Maisel, who, in February 2015 after forty-eight years, begrudgingly sold his home--the 36,000 square-foot, 100-year-old landmark building in Manhattan known simply as "The Bank." Through the intimate lens of filmmaker and Jay's protégé, noted artist and photographer Stephen Wilkes, the viewer is taken on a remarkable journey through Jay's life as an artist, mentor, and man; a man grappling with time, life, change, and the end of an era in New York City. "


Fifty years ago he had bought a commercial building with 8 floors and 72 rooms and he filled them with artifacts and pictures and what some people would call junk!  He has taken thousands and thousands of pictures because he sees something beautiful or arresting in the most ordinary sights.  His collecting, curiousity and wonder all reminded me of Chuck.  He had the money and the space to keep his treasures for years and now he had to sort through them and either store them or throw them away.  It was about that process but also the man and his way of constantly looking and seeing the beautiful in the mundane. 

Yesterday I was at a Wellstreams class and they are preparing for their next year of working as Spiritual Directors for the first time.  I will be a supervisor this year. 

Our opening devotional had this reading:

A blind child

Guided by his mother

Admires the cherry blossoms

(Kikakou)

Then we hear another reading by Mark Nepo and reflected on the reality that we are sometimes the blind child, sometimes the one who guides others  to see and sometimes the - and I love this word - the "unsuspecting" cherry blossom.  And what I realized is that often I do not see what is right in front of me.  I can be distracted, busy, blind - whatever! - but I do not see.

So, thank God for  artists and photographers (even though they may be slightly crazy) and spiritual guides and friends along the way.   Here was the ending poem

Holy Mother, Loving Guide,

Do not let our blindness keep us from admiring your creation.

Allow us to freely offer our eyes for each other

and to receive the sight you give to us through each other.

It is through this shared sight that we will see beyond the superficial, so that we will not be led astray by our misperceptions.

Help us to be, in our turn, the blind child, the loving guide and the unsuspecting cherry blossoms.