Concerning Eyes And Windows
If our eyes are the windows to our soul, what do the world and its viewers see? Each of us are unique in some way. If we were to peer into the eyes of one person, we might see a place of beauty, peace, and love. The dusty and cracked windows of another person’s eyes might show instead a place of pain, frustration, and darkness. While one window might depict, through a clean and bright window, a world of light and sun and happiness, a different window might show a place of rain and fear and anguish, barely visible through aged and time-worn scarlet curtains.
Unfortunately, our only ability in this regard is the capacity to attempt to examine our own secret world. Sometimes, on rare occasions, a person’s eyes can speak more words than any single person could in an entire lifetime. On such occasions, our reaction might be surprise, joy, or even fear. For really, in such a world as today’s, are we not conditioned to hide our true feelings and emotions, let alone recognize such emotions in others? When we do find ourselves endowed with even a small amount of insight into the inner-workings of a person, their deepest thoughts and emotions, our bodies and minds seem to be unable to cope with such non-selfish realizations. Instead, we choose to reject such revelations, rejecting them as mere fancies, and we focus instead on our own life and secret world.
Our eyes are our most powerful tool with which to observe the outside world, and yet we willingly choose to ignore the world around us. Our eyes are the only way to see through the windows into the souls of others, and still we would rather keep our eyes focused inward, on the world inside of us. In this way, each of us ignore the fleeting visions of lives not our own, which are revealed every day. We can see these things, we can understand each other to such a greater extent, if we simply choose to look into the eyes of the people whose lives carry on all around us. In doing this, in reading the stories of their lives, be they happy or sad, we become better equipped to finally understand the story of our own life.
inconsequentially insignificant 
Very interesting post, Offling. It’s so true that we are conditioned not to think about others or try to understand them… And making good eye contact is certainly a good way to start! But there are cultural factors involved too – it’s sometimes seen as too “forward” or pushy to make steady eye contact. Maybe that’s a more North American thing, dunno. It’s something I’m going to try to overcome. 😀
Yes, but perhaps more important than the ability to look in a person’s eyes is the ability to notice that the person is there in the first place. All in due time, I suppose…