16. The Power of Gazing

St Francis of Assisi and St Ignatius of Loyola shared a similar deep longing and search for God. St Francis, who was born three centuries before Ignatius, saw creation as a gift of an all-good God where everything carried the footprint of God's love and goodness. The Franciscan, St. Bonaventure, made a similar practice of using his physical senses to 'clearly see the eternal God through them as in a mirror' and gave simple instructions on how to experience this life-transforming gaze:

• Remember that God looks upon me in love.
• Respond to God’s loving gaze.
• Begin to see the face of God everywhere, in everyone, in everything and at all times.

Recognising that life is a little more complicated, Bonaventure reminds us that,

Our intellectual effort, on its own, is insufficient for this path...
Above all, we need the help of divine grace to open our eyes
so we may behold the wonder of divine wisdom
which is reflected in all things as in a mirror.

The theory sounded very abstract until I stumbled upon a way to assist this experiential encounter. It also has three simple steps:

• Look at something in front of you at eye level that will remain still.
• While looking at your selected object, begin to widen your vision to include more and more of your peripheral vision.
• As you focus on your peripheral vision, you may experience an increasing sense of stillness and peace. When your eyes tire, gently close them without losing the feeling of still looking out of the corner of your eyes.

I later discovered this process is used by a range of counselling services to trigger our relaxation response. This natural response also helps us to become still and receptive, reducing the constant internal chatter that is so distracting for prayer and meditation. We are then more open to the eternal presence of God's Grace that seeks to carry us into the source of God's love.

Many other mystics have referred to this power of gazing in their spiritual practice. St Ignatius, for example, encouraged members of his community:

(To practise) seeking God’s presence in all things,
in their conversations, their walks,
in all that they see, taste, hear, understand, in all their actions,
since His Divine Majesty is truly in all things
by His presence, power, and essence.

And Meister Eckhart gave a simple explanation of why this intuitive way of prayer is so life-transforming,

The eye through which I see God is the same eye
through which God sees me;
my eye and God's eye are one eye,
one seeing, one knowing, one love.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil.

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• Manney, J, An Ignatian Book of Days, Loyola Press, 2014.- Letters of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
• Bonaventure, Journey into God, Tawera Press, 2013, Prologue, para 4.
• Echkart, von Hochheim OP (Meister), Walshe, M (Translator), Essential Sermons, Herder & Herder, Crossroad Pub. Co. NY. p. 298. Available from:. https://almiracatovic.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/sermons.pdf

• Smith, Andy, How To Use Peripheral Vision In Therapy, Practical NLP Podcast, Feb 11, 2016, available from:https://nlppod.com/how-to-use-peripheral-vision-in-therapy/