"The spiritual eyes see beneath all physical matter to the place where everything in the universe is interconnected in a divine cosmic dance. When I see, express, and interact in harmony with the vision of my spiritual eyes, transformation flows and miracles happen."
-- From inspiring essay titled Spiritual Eyes by Fred Burks
Spiritual Eyes
Gazing in fertile silence deep into Zora's inviting eyes, I touch her divine core as she touches mine. Enthralled with the wordless mystery we see in these liquid depths, energetic shivers run up our spines in an ecstasy of knowing the unknown. I see my Self in her eyes. She sees the unlimited potential of her Self in mine. My entire being quakes as I dive so deep through Zora's eyes that I can see our souls as one in the sacred space where all beings are intimately interconnected. I am awakening to something profound. We are awakening to something incredibly profound. We are powerfully reminding each other of who we are in the most expansive levels of being.
Riding my bicycle the next day to Bikram yoga class, the timeless soul connection with Zora still reverberates strongly in my body and soul. On my way to this intense 90-minute session of 105 degree heat which I enjoy once a month, I remember how I love to set an intention for exploration each time I attend. I find that when I set a clear intention beforehand, I often have rich inspirations arise in class as we stretch beyond our comfort zones.
I decide in today's class to explore what is awakening in me in my deepening connection with Zora. How can I bring what I'm learning with her to other parts of my life? How can I see into the eyes of others in the same way I see into Zora's? Yes, that's it! How can I better see that vibrant divine essence, that universal core that I see so clearly in Zora in everyone I meet? That's my intention for exploration in this session.
After some warm up stretching, the intense heat begins to penetrate. My entire body loosens and opens as I begin to push the stretches to my limit. Before long, my heart is pounding and sweat pours from my body. It's a most strange and delicious kind of self torture that I actually love. Any thoughts but making it through this yoga posture vanish from my mind. When I stand up or raise my body, the blood rushes out of my head and at times I almost faint. Yet it is often in these intense, mindless moments when powerful realizations arise from within.
Opening to that swirling, blissful place of pure being as I finish one challenging pose, suddenly I get it! I get the answer to my question about seeing the divine essence in all. I'm thrilled to realize that I have two pairs of eyes! We all have two pairs of eyes!!!
We have our physical eyes which see the three-dimensional world around us. Yet we also have another unseen pair of eyes. They are energetic or spiritual eyes. These eyes are grounded in the place deep within each of us which knows that we are all interconnected. The spiritual eyes see beneath all physical matter to the place where everything in the universe is interconnected in a divine cosmic dance.
Yes!!! In this instant, I see that though I've never before realized that I have these invisible, energetic eyes, I have been gradually developing my spiritual eyes for years. With these divine eyes I am cultivating the ability to see profound depths and beautiful vibrance in every person I meet. I get it! These are the eyes within me that drank in pure bliss and sublime ecstasy upon gazing through Zora's physical eyes to connect with her divine essence. Gazing into her soul, these eyes saw my own soul reflected back to me in a most mysterious and magical way.
When these spiritual eyes look out at the physical world, they see beneath solid form. They pierce the veil of separation to see the energetic manifestations emanating from the divine essence of all beings. They see a vast sea of energy flowing, of which each of us is an intimately interconnected part. All is received by these spiritual eyes simply and gloriously as it is. In this expanded awareness where the divine vibration is equally strong in all beings, the core energetic essence of everyone and everything magically shines through.
When two beings gaze into each other through these spiritual eyes, the mysteries of the universe become apparent. The great wonder of the unknown is seen in its ever-changing form. That is why my gazing and diving with Zora was so intense, so intoxicating, so transformative in our time together yesterday. As I gaze deep into her with my spiritual eyes and she deep into me, the divine is given the opportunity to look at and explore itself through these eyes, and magic cannot help but happen.
As my body surrenders further to the intense heat and stretching of each successive yoga posture, I feel such deep gratitude: gratitude to Zora for opening to this experience with me; gratitude to Bikram Choudhury for creating this intense, unusual form of yoga which is so powerfully inspiring for me; gratitude to myself for being willing to open not only my spiritual eyes, but my heart and soul to All That Is; gratitude to the divinity that we all are for inviting me to dance with its mysteries. Thank you One and thank you All.
Near the end of the session as I stretch deep into camel pose – the most intense pose of the class – I nearly faint as my awareness again expands and soars. I feel so fully the exquisite depths of my being, of all beings merging with my expanded consciousness. And then suddenly, I'm surprised to see yet another pair of energetic eyes! This time it's the sexual eyes. Wow!!! Now that's an entirely different ball game! A soulful laugh echoes silently within as I acknowledge that yes, Zora is a vibrant, gorgeous woman and being. And I know this somehow plays a role in what I'm experiencing with her.
I realize that the sexual eyes are quite different from both the physical and the spiritual eyes. These desiring eyes see and look for that which awakens the powerful love hormones in our bodies. Ever longing for rich, indescribable feelings of ecstatic union and connection, these passionate eyes completely bypass the mind and are connected to a part of our awareness which can be quite irrational. The intensity of feeling they bring can cause us to lose contact with both our rationality and our spirituality.
When these sexual eyes see certain body shapes, facial features, or body parts which excite a hormonal response, all other eyes can become blind with the passionate desire to connect intimately that is such a core part of the human experience. Sex seems almost designed physiologically to entangle us in its web. It forces us into rich dramas where we are gifted with potent opportunities to learn more about ourselves and life through opening more deeply to another soul than we ever would without these powerful hormones raging inside us.
Yet how fascinating, how intriguing that when I'm with beautiful Zora, my sexual eyes are open and engaged, yet my spiritual eyes are also fully open and engaged. With her, the two seem to work in tandem, drawing me even deeper into a mystery which I don't comprehend, yet which paradoxically imparts deep wisdom that somehow heals me into ever greater wholeness. I am in awe that my spiritual eyes and my sexual eyes can work so beautifully in harmony. Together, they are opening universes filled with infinite possibilities for growth and expansion.
Riding my bicycle back home from this most beautiful, most powerful Bikram session, I am thrilled with this newfound awareness of my energetic eyes. I see the physical world flowing gracefully past me. The streets, houses, trees, and people passing through my field of vision all shimmer magnificently as I see beyond the three dimensions of my normal vision. The universe is dancing for me as it shows off the divine energetic essence in everything around me. I see vibrance and resonance in everyone and everything, which reflects the divine sensations I feel welling up from deep within my soul.
As I arrive home after this unbelievably rich journey, I sense a new beginning. I sense a new awakening – or is it really just a remembering – of who I am in this world, of who we are, and what we are doing here. Opening for the first time to the miraculous abilities of my spiritual eyes, I see so clearly now how I can use these eyes to dance with the radiant divine essence, with the resplendent universal core in everyone I meet.
I now embrace more fully than ever the divine mystery that I Am, that We Are. I still don't know the deepest answers, yet I know that when I see, express, and interact in harmony with the vision of my spiritual eyes, transformation flows and miracles happen. I make a conscious decision to use these eyes as often as I can now as I move through life. I know that the more I choose to use my spiritual eyes, the more intimately I feel connected with each person around me, and the more I experience on a most profound level the interconnectedness of all beings in this divine cosmic dance of life.
Written and gratefully experienced by Fred Burks
Hi Fred,
I would usually be to embarrassed to address such a personal experience, but wow that was absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing..
I had a vision while I was reading, of a circle of our many versions of self looking toward a central point in which resides the "spiritual eye" seeing us/we/me in all our forms. Very powerful imagery. The circle of selves presented as an even larger "spiritual eye", it was fractal in nature..
I'll have what she's having, LOL
Fred, that was beautiful. Sex, yoga, bicycle ride, insight (right in the middle of ordinary life), and then words about it. Metaphors that gesture toward wordless realms. What would we do without metaphors?
Chris, you're a hoot: "Ill have what she's having." Please do. Have two helpings.
What a great image, Litha Moon! I am inspired. I hope you don't mind if I use that, too. Thanks so much for sharing that.
With much love and appreciation,
Fred
What a beautiful message for Valentine's Day coming soon.
Thanks,
Wendy
Imagery smimagery, Chris crack me up...you know that is what we were all thinking...
What a profound piece of writing, Fred. I read this the first day you posted it. Do you ever wonder at the ripples that you put into motion by your writing?
I have sometimes felt that I live at a deeper level than some, and find it difficult to stay very long in the shallow end. When I read your writings I feel as though I am looking over the abyss. Wow. What depth. Your writings challenge me. They show me where I can go deeper.
Upon the first reading of your essay, I was surprised with an emotional response of tears that expressed a deep sadness. It bubbled up through an intense longing for connection with another at the level that you so eloquently described between you and Zora. Upon contemplation of this longing, I wondered if perhaps this could be a longing for connection to my inner self, that maybe I have been looking for on the outside. I thank you for this insight.
I went into the grocery store today, thinking of these spiritual eyes you spoke of and looked around at others, attempting to use them.
Thank you for sharing your insights…. And yourself – at such a very intimate level.
Mary G
Thank you so much for your beautiful response, Mary. In your words I feel the depths of you reaching out to connect with the depths in me. And in the deepest part of those depths, we are already interconnected in this beautiful dance of life.
I love they way you bring the question back to yourself, wondering if you're longing for deeper connection reflects some longing for something inside yourself. I find this practice to be most valuable, too. Whenever I find myself longing for something outside of myself, I like to put up an imaginary mirror and see where it is I'm feeling a lack. I then search within for way to dance with this longing. It's a powerful practice that has made a big difference in my life.
I do the same when I find myself judging others, often with an even more profound effect. The mirror helps me to see where in judging others, I am somehow judging myself. I am so thankful for wonderful tools like this that feed my heart and soul, and allow me to connect more deeply with myself and with those around me. Thanks for your warm and intimate words, Mary, and may we all find what we are longing for as much inside of ourselves as outside.
With deep love, joy, and gratitude,
Fred
P.S. I'm excited right now as in 30 minutes I'm going to meet Zora and dive into her eyes again as we connect for some rich, ecstatic dance in a Sunday morning dance here in Oakland called the Ecstatic Dance.
Thanks for sharing this ongoing experience Fred. Enjoy the majesty of motion in the higher court.
Namaste.
Bob
Fred,
You really reminded me of what health is. You've said before that you place a high value on taking care of your physical body and I think your body is paying you back in profound ways. I had forgotten that ecstacy and ease of existance that a fit body provides. You just can't imagine the doors you'll close without that. This was a beautiful and personal sharing of your real thoughts and I'm happy you spoke them outloud. Life is good!
(did i really say beautiful? to a guy?;-)
Brian
P.S. From your first word I envisioned you at the scenes of happy places I've been- like the beach-and in a permanent state of vacation or something. Bright sun, warm air on your skin. Your joy is so easy to feel, it made me relive and visualize good times.
Thanks for your warm words, Brian. I only wish that my life was in a permanent state of vacation. I've been on a journey for several years now of letting going of my busyness and the need to be productive, and instead focus more on just being and appreciating existence. Thankfully, I've made a lot of progress, yet I still have a ways to go, too.
This year I seem to have made a big breakthrough in that at least I'm hardly feeling pressured at all with things to do, which was a common part of my experience for many years. Maybe this is what opened the door for someone like Zora to come in.
And just FYI, Zora and I are not being sexual. She's going through some important healing around love addiction, so that we've agreed not to get sexually involved for at least six months. Both of us feel this has made our relationship deeper and stronger as, though we definitely feel a sexual attraction, we are using that energy to explore other realms. It's quite rich!
Though I certainly have my stuff I'm working on in my life, I have to say my life has been and continues to be very blessed. And you and all of our friends here a part of that blessing. Thanks for being in my life, and you have a beautiful day and month ahead.
With sacred love and joy ever flowing,
Fred