Alive

What does it really mean to be alive?
What is life?
Where does it begin/end?
What are some different cultural perspectives on life and the after-life?

Eyes

What are eyes?
What do they do (purpose of the eye)?
Why do we have eyes?
What mechanisms make up the eyes?
How does vision occur?
Hamsa Hand Symbology
What are some cultural perspectives on the meaning behind our eyes?


Physical Components of the Eye

"In this illustration from La Dioptrique (1637), René Descartes shows fairly accurately the way in which the optics of the eye form an inverted image in the plane of the retina (seen here through a window cut in the back of an ox eye). The Jesuit astronomer Christopher Scheiner (1573-1650) was the first to observe the image in this way, although Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) had already geometrically deduced its likely organization. Before this time, most philosophers had imagined the lens to be the point of focus of light."

  

• "Eyes are both windows and beacons for the mind. They provide vision — our most precious sense. But they also transmit signals to others — signals of anger, lust, fear, compassion, happiness. Eyes can desire (‘A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind’; Shakespeare, Love's Labours Lost 1595) ; but also violate (‘They rape us with their eyes’; Marilyn French, The Women's Room 1977) ; and eyes can reflect our innermost thoughts (‘Her eyes are homes of silent prayer’; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A. H. H. canto 32, 1850). Gaze is arguably the most powerful component of body language."

• "An eye is a part of the body specialized for catching light and translating it into nerve impulses. Defined in such basic terms, eyes have been around for a very long time. The fossils of primitive arthropods (ancestors of insects, crustaceans and spiders), 530 million years old, show clear signs of eyes, and the first eye-like organs probably date back to the very beginning of multicellular life, 600 million years ago. In the depths of the ocean, in underground rivers, inside the bodies of other animals, there are creatures without eyes. And organisms such as corals and sea anemones, which simply stay still and grow, have no need of eyes. But wherever there is light and a reason to move around, animals have eyes."

•  "The most essential feature of a true eye is a mechanism for catching the energy of light and using it to trigger a chemical reaction. This is achieved in all eyes by substances called photopigments. Every photopigment consists of a derivative of vitamin A (retinal) linked to a protein molecule called an opsin. Here again is evidence of the antiquity of seeing: opsins are similar in structure and are encoded by very similar, conserved genes throughout the animal world. Even certain bacteria have photopigments in their membranes. The capacity to catch light was one of the first tricks discovered in the story of life."

• The images we see are made up of light reflected from objects. This light enters the eye through the cornea. Because this part of the eye is curved, it bends the light, creating an upside-down image on the retina which is eventually put the right way up by the brain.

• The retina is a complex part of the eye, but only the very back of it is light-sensitive. This part of the retina has roughly the area of a quarter coin, and is packed with photosensitive cells called rods and cones. These allow us to see images in color and detail, and to see at night. Cones are the cells responsible for daylight vision. There are three kinds - each responding to a different wavelength of light: red, green and blue. The cones allow us to see in color and detail. Rods are responsible for night vision. They are sensitive to light but not to color. In darkness, the cones do not function at all.

• The lens focuses the image. It can do this because of its adjustable nature. It uses muscles to change shape and help us focus on objects at different distances. The automatic focusing of the lens is a reflex response and is not controlled by the brain.

• Once the image is clearly focused on the sensitive part of the retina, energy in the light that makes up that image creates an electrical signal. Nerve impulses then carry the information about that image to the brain through the optic nerve.
   

Symbolic Meanings of the Eye

A quick list of attributes on the symbolic meaning of eyes:

Focus

Clarity

Vision

Prophesy

Omniscience

Presence

Intelligence

Perception

Observation

Opening

Awareness

• "In Christianity the Eye of God is depicted hovering over a tent which is symbolic of the Tabernacle - the temple of the faithful. The eye here represents the omni-present spirit of God peering into the soul of the faithful - ever watchful over those who serve."

• "In Egypt we see the Eye of Horus (a.k.a. the eye of Ra, and also referred to as a wedjat or a udjat). In this context the eye is a symbol of protection and life. During his battle with Set, Horus' eye was ripped out and torn to pieces. Thoth, however, was able to save the eye and restored it by invoking the magic of the falcon."

•  "It's interesting that in Egypt and Western occult traditions the left eye is considered a lunar trait and a symbol of northern direction. The right eye is a solar symbol and represents southern direction."

• "The "third eye" is referred to as the spiritual eye, the intuitive eye, or the eye of the soul. It is associated with the brow chakra (or Ajna chakra) which facilitates intuition and extra sensory perception. The third eye is depicted on the forehead of Shiva, and is symbolic of the inner eye that sees all things within a cosmic perspective."

•  "In Dreaming the meaning of eyes indicates an opening into a new dimension. This is symbolic of your vision clearing and focusing in on a new direction. It may also indicate your ability to see past what is common and spiritually arrive to the point where your inner vision perceives all things in their divine glory - even the simplest of things become imbued with an exquisite quality inherent in all nature. The symbolic meaning of eyes also carry a message of prophesy - literally seeing "a vision of the future." This translates well with ancient alchemists and astrologers speaking of eyes of the sky foretelling certain events as they chart the stars in certain patterns to ascertain various outcomes."

• "Many ancient esoteric as well as earth-based philosophies consider the eye as a channel or a passageway into a new dimension. Here the eye is not a physical symbol but rather a ethereal one in which consciousness may enter into a gateway of infinite expanse. This journey is traversed through the pitch-black channel of being-ness (represented by the black of the pupil). Once the threshold is crossed, one is said to obtain higher knowledge - a glimpse of heightened epiphany - comparable to enlightenment."

Spiritual (i.e. Bible) Meanings of the Eye

• "The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness; if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness (Matthew 6:22, 23; Luke 11:34).

• "If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee (Matthew 5:29; 18:9).
  -The left eye is the intellectual, but the right eye is its affection. The right eye is to be plucked out means that the affection is to be subdued if it causes stumbling."

• "Jesus said to the disciples, Do ye not yet perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? having eyes see ye not? and having ears hear ye not? (Mark 8:17, 18);
  -where it is manifest that not to be willing to understand and not to believe, is to have eyes and not see."