"Gabby opened her eyes."
When President Obama uttered these simple words, the crowd at the Tucson memorial service cheered wildly. "Gabby opened her eyes."
Four simple words. Four very spiritual words.
Congresswoman Giffords was shot at the beginning of the Christian season called Epiphany. This year, Epiphany lasts until March 8, the day before Ash Wednesday. The word, epiphany, means "manifestation," "revelation," or "unveiling." As it follows Christmas, it is the time of the year in which Christians consider how God has appeared to us, where God is seen, and how God is made manifest in the world. Epiphany, its primary symbol the star, is about seeing the light.
Ms. Giffords is, of course, Jewish. Although Epiphany is a Christian season, its roots are found in the Hebrew Bible. Abraham, Moses, Joshua and many of the prophets experienced "epiphanies," where God appeared to them. Indeed, the Jewish festival of Hanukah is an epiphany celebration -- the light of God is seen here on earth. Early Christians borrowed the word epiphaneia from the Greek version of the Jewish Scriptures where it referred to the visible presence of God in the world. Along with the star, the other symbol of Epiphany is the magi, the ancient wise men who were not Jews, who went on a journey to see the infant named Immanuel, or God-with-us. Indeed, the Christian season of Epiphany celebrates God made manifest to the whole world, that God was no longer a distant God or only the God of the ancient Israelites -- but that God is, indeed, visible to all who open their eyes.
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs: we are all searchers following stars, looking for the presence of God in the world. Opening our eyes is a sign of life, one of the first things tiny babies do when after they make their way into the world. But opening our eyes also symbolizes our common humanity -- the search for love, meeting the healing looks of family and friends, God's presence in others, the light that shines throughout the world, and finding goodness in all the places we find ourselves along the way.
The opposite is the case as well. Closing our eyes is a sign of the end, of death. And it is also a symbol of giving up, of not looking, of resignation. Shutting our eyes is akin to turning our souls away from God, our loved ones, our neighbors.
When we open our eyes, we will see light and beauty. We will see the caring faces of loved ones. But opening our eyes, we will also see suffering and pain and violence. We see the steady gaze of a loving spouse; we also see the sinister glare of a deranged shooter. Open eyes see both. And in all that we see, God's presence is somehow there. Comforting, healing: yes. But often seeing God is a call as well. A call to transform our world into God's vision for humankind. God made manifest in the world; we must manifest God in the world.
Gabby opened her eyes. May we also open ours and see the glory that shines round about us. And, when we open our eyes, may we not only cheer, but also be inspired, in the words of a traditional Epiphany prayer, "to contribute wisdom and good works for the benefit of the whole family." Amen.
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We can heighten that short time by acting civil with each other. We don't have to love each other to be respectful. Anger and hate are time consuming, and both destroys the spirit, demanding that we close our minds. Closed minds can only experience the narrowness of life's abundant gift.
Like Gabby, if we open up, we too, can experience the miracle of understanding and civility. It's worth a try. Our contribution to the next generation will be too shallow in substance to even think of leaving it behind for them. Imitation is not always the best form of flattery. It's time to open our minds to wider possibilities. That is the inheritance we should be leaving our children and grandchildren.
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I would like to see a single religious article on this site reach 100 comments without at least one antagonistic materialist remark. It will never happen. Even on an article like this, where the writer attempts to rally readers to a beacon of light in what was and is a very dark situation for all affected, the tunnel vision of pinkibus, GHarry, and their like obligates them to miss the forest for the trees and inhibit legitimate conversation over the writer's topic by making the discussion a vitriolic, mocking exchange over the existence of God. It is a trite and exhausting road to nowhere.
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than Buddhists do not believe in this kind of externalized God.
There is no evidence for it.
Buddha taught that all compounded phenomena is impermanent.
And that Buddha nature (primordial luminous awareness & space) are infinite.
With eyes wide open I have seen the bankers looting the US treasury.
Buddha taught that the main cause of crime is poverty.
With eyes wide open I am seeing the disintegration of the social fabric
that has been caused by these financial terrorists.
With eyes partially open I voted for Obama.
With eyes wide open I see Obama rewarding & hiring on his cabinet
the same financial terrorists that destroy the middle class in America.
With eyes wide open I see Obama's mouth moving but his actions
show there's nothing coming from his heart.
With eyes wide open I saw the integrity of Martin Luther King Jr. and
that Obama does not have one iota of this kind of sacred integrity.
In any case, I think that pro-religious pundits ought to tread carefully around the Giffords situation.
It is easy to find good guys and bad guys relating to the incident. Good guys include people like the doctors, the EMTs, the people who wrestled the shooter to the ground, and Giffords herself. The bad guys include the shooter, the enablers like Palin, Angle, the NRA, the Tea Party and those who eternally resist making help available for the emotionally disturbed.
But the role...good or bad...of a divine entity is much more murky. The role of such an entity must be considered without cherry picking facts. After all, if a divine entity can induce the healing of the cells of a human brain, or if that entity could have carefully guided the path of a bullet, then we have to accept that that same entity could have made that bullet miss or could have prevented it from being fired.