We Are Blind From Birth: ruminations of a retired priest
Direct religious experience is a subject whose study bears more true fruit than organized religions’ catechisms, doctrine or dogma.
We humans are blind from birth. We don’t know who or whose we are until Divine Presence breaks in, slaps mud on our face and instructs us to wash. For a fortunate few, one turn with mud on our jowls opens our eyes. But most of us need more than one mud bath before we see that we are blind.
More years ago than I care to recount while taking an introductory philosophy course I was introduced to William James, one of the great thinkers of the late 19th century. His book, The Varieties of Religious Experience has been a companion of mine ever since. James insists that direct religious experience is a subject whose study will bear more true fruit than organized religions’ catechisms, doctrine or dogma. According to James a person cannot taste truth without having a personal experience of it.
I believe this is the point of John’s story about the blind beggar who encounters Jesus, follows his instructions and for the first time sees. (See John 9.1–41 below) The man born blind has no explanation for his eye opening religious experience. All he knows are the irrefutable facts. “I was blind. A man named Jesus slapped mud on my eyes, sent me to wash and now I see.” And, the story continues.
People who for years passed by the blind beggar do not believe his story so they bring him to near sighted religious officials who waste no time detailing their dogma, “This man named Jesus must be a sinner because he broke the law and performed healing on the Sabbath.” Seeing through the religious officials’ myopic perspective, the once blind man insists, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see.” The once blind man claims the truth of his experience.
When the religious officials persist asking, “How did Jesus open your eyes?” the once blind man looks deeper still and declares, “I have told you and you would not listen… Do you want to be his disciples?” Empowered by the truth of his religious experience, the once blind beggar boldly confronts the religious keepers of the law and offers a compelling explanation. “Here is an astonishing thing! You (religious officials) do not know where he (Jesus) comes from and yet he opened my eyes… Never since the world began has… anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God he could do nothing.”
From physical blindness the once blind beggar matures by stages to a well reasoned perception of who Jesus is. Still, the blind man’s religious experience invites even more than physical healing and intellectual understanding. True sight also embodies spiritual transformation. This is why the story continues and Jesus asks the man born blind, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
Again the once blind man admits his unknowing while holding fast to the truth of his transforming experience. “I was blind and now I see.” Only then is the spiritual truth of Jesus’ identity revealed and the blind man’s eyes fully open. Not only does he see the physical presence of Jesus and argue rationally on behalf of Jesus, because of his personal religious experience the once blind man also recognizes the truth of divinity revealed in humanity. His physical sight, his cognitive insight and his spiritual perceptivity cohere. The eyes of the blind man’s body, mind and heart are open.
What do you see? How do you see? Do you recognize Divine Presence in every human being?
Through no fault of our own or our parents, each of us has our own blind spots. But this is not bad news because our blind spots are as doorways. The key to having the eyes of our body, mind and heart open is admitting that we cannot see, that we do not understand and that we have no idea what to believe. Then, like the blind beggar, we are ripe to receive the tasty fruit of irrefutable religious experience and able to declare, “I was blind but now I see.”
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John 9:1–41 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
