Eye

When we open our eyes, light enters our world, and we can distinguish, identify, orient ourselves, and so on. The eye symbolizes light and consciousness. "The eye, like the sun, is both a symbol and an allegory for consciousness." (Mysterium Coniunctionis, par. 47.) The difference between light and an eye, however, is that the eye suggests a seeing subject. 

Not wanting to see is preferring to remain unconscious; not being able to see, being forced to float in ignorance. (However, compare Blindness, and note that the one who consciously closes the eyes to the outside world can open them to the inner world.) The eye often symbolizes insight, vision, or opinion. 

Light and Consciousness

At the same time, there is a universal belief that light streams from the eyes (as the closed eye suggests that the light is directed inward), for example, Luke 11:34, "The eye is the lamp of the body"; eye and light are in a way symbolic synonyms. We can also compare Zechariah, chapter 4, where the lamps in the prophet’s vision are God's seven all-seeing eyes.  

Thus, the eye and the ability to see are symbols primarily of consciousness, the Self, but also of visions and learning. (See also Head and Face.) This is also reflected in the universal belief in the eye as warding off evil; if "the evil spirit" is seen – that is, reflected, made conscious – it is defeated. (Compare Name.)  

More mystically, eyes can be expressions of "the many lights of the unconscious," that is, a symbolic expression of the possibility that the inner complex possesses a form of consciousness. This tends to be expressed as sparks, many eyes, and the starry sky. 

The Divine  

It can also symbolize "the all-seeing" – God (the Self), the parent, the conscience – that which cannot be escaped. The eye is the human consciousness, and "at the same time, the Self that looks at us." (Projection and Re-Collection, p. 166.)  

The eye is a symbol of God (who "sees all"), the presence of the sacred. Its symbolic meaning (as above) and mandala form with pupil and iris also make it a symbol for the center or Self. God's eye that sees everything and penetrates the human heart is "a reflection of one's insights into the reality of one's being."

Furthermore, for the alchemists, the eye was the sky; the Holy Spirit is described as an eye; Hermes as "the eye of heaven," and so on; in ancient Greece, the sun corresponds to the right eye and the moon to the left.  

The Soul  

According to the Egyptians, the eye was the dwelling place of the soul, and we still say that the eyes are "the mirrors of the soul"; the mandala-shaped, captivating, and quite strange eyes reveal the true nature of the human being. Sometimes we find ourselves studying someone's eyes when we are trying to understand the other, as if the eyes told us what that person is thinking. They are like gateways to the other side, to the inside of the person.  

Iris  

In Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow and the messenger of the gods. In alchemy, she remains as God's messenger and is largely synonymous with the peacock.

Knowledge and Understanding  

To see is to know (and has a similar symbolic value, such as enlightenment and consciousness.) One says: "I won't believe it until I see it." What one has seen can never be "unseen." Many stories refer to this, where there is something the hero must not see – a knowledge he must not acquire. The eye is, as mentioned, associated with insight and enlightenment.  

Seeing as Something Destructive  

Just as analysis can be symbolized by a knife that kills the image, seeing can have similar symbolism. To scrutinize, differentiate, intellectualize can, like Medusa's gaze, be deadly. The contemplative, blind vision also has its place, just as moonlight contrasts with sunlight. To be blind does not necessarily mean to be clueless, but rather, like the flower, to turn towards the sun without seeing it.  

Attitude and Ability  

In everyday contexts, eyes are about seeing, of course, but certainly more symbolically than just looking. We have many words and expressions that describe the symbolism of the eye: "I don’t see it that way," "he has tunnel vision," "can’t you see it?", "see where it’s going," "look the other way," "see further than the nose can reach," and so on. All of these more or less allude to our psychological attitude and ability, not to the use of our visual organs. The English word "see" means both to see and to understand.  

The gaze reveals one's desires, for "where the gaze is, there the heart is," as the old saying goes. Similarly, "we keep our eyes" on something, or "we don't let it out of our sight." In this way, our gaze reveals what we are paying attention to, or should be interested in.  

Contemplation  

To look at something, to contemplate it for a while, has a life-giving quality; it is a kind of magical touch. To calmly observe a dangerous animal can make it retreat after a while; to desire something with the gaze can bring it to us, and so on. The ancient Greeks could contemplate a statue of a god until it gave a sign – a nod, a blink, or whatever it may have been. Similarly, today a child might lie and contemplate an image until the depicted thing begins to move. It is as if our gaze influences the observed like a magical staff.  

The long, contemplative observation makes the observed become pregnant; something will be activated, revealed. (The same happens with touch, which is also life-giving.) When one has come to a dead end in one's inner development, where there is, for example, only a black wall, a locked door, a wall, a smooth lake, where nothing moves, and one may be exhausted, it is time for this contemplation – to fertilize it with contemplation, so that the seeds buried in the situation are warmed up and come to life.  

Persecution Mania  

If eyes appear in dreams or other spontaneous expressions, it can refer to emerging paranoia, where the "inflated" ego projects "God's eye" onto its surroundings and feels watched and persecuted. (Mysterium Lectures, p. 67.)  

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