The Eyes of the Soul

by Andrew Schneider - 

The most intimate reality in the world is a face. It reveals everything about you. It shows your joys and sorrows; it is a record of your life story. But more significantly it also manifests your inner world, the soul that you are.

The face shows the soul and its distortions. 

Fear you can see in the eyes. Compassion and love you can see in the eyes. Look at people and surroundings with the eyes of compassion and you make connection. Look with fear and you create what you fear.

It is for good reason that we have a saying, ‘the eyes are the windows of the soul.' When we look deeply into someone’s eyes we touch their essence. That is a powerful experience, and one of the reasons why many people (often men in Western culture) feel uncomfortable in making and holding eye contact. That is also why looking directly into the eyes of some wild animals can be threatening to them.

We can either look at others with hard eyes or soft eyes. 

When we look with hard eyes we are analytical, perhaps judgmental, and at times fearful and defensive. We want to control the relationship at that moment. We maintain a separate stance. When you look at someone with hard eyes they often become defensive because it can feel threatening.

When we look with soft eyes we are open and receptive. 

We want to make connection, to understand and touch the heart. Soft eyes emanate from an altered state of consciousness with more alpha than beta brainwaves. With soft eyes we can more easily find our place in right relationship to what we are relating to. We can see the bigger picture more easily and at the same time are aware of more of the details within that picture. Many athletes use soft eyes in order to be more aware of where other players are at any moment.

When you have compassion toward another you cannot maintain hard eyes, but invariably adopt some degree of soft eyes. Compassion makes connection. And in order to be compassionate you must be open and receptive toward the one you are expressing or feeling compassion.

Compassion or love that emanates from your core, the soul within, is always a choice rather than an unconscious emotion. 

When you choose to be compassionate and you look at someone with your compassionate, soft eyes, you touch their soul in a way that they can feel. They might not know what is happening, but they usually know that something is happening. If they are sufficiently open they will feel happy, and will often smile. If they are fearful they might initially feel threatened, but then you have to show them through your actions that you are not a threat.

When you see fear or pain in someone’s face, give them the gift of your compassion. 

When you look into their eyes see the beauty of soul that lies behind that fear or pain. Show them compassion so that their love can be stirred to transform their fear and give meaning to their pain. This is a gift you can choose to give any time you meet someone. Go beyond just understanding and attain more perspectives, experiences and integration to enable you to heal the past and create the future.

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