Sunday, January 23, 2005
Physical Vs Spiritual Blindness
I have been watching a Korean TV series recently. It depicts a girl’s determination to bring the truth to light. Her parents had been killed unjusticely by some villains in the palace. In her pursuit to expose these villains’ wickedness, she experiences a lot of hardship and opposition. However, she is able to reveal the truth finally.
There is one scene that impresses me a lot. The girl and her senior cook go to the market to buy fish from a blind man. They want the fresh fish. The blind man just touches the skin of the fish and smells it and he is able to get them the most fresh fish. Though he is blind physically, this does not hinder him from making good judgment.
This reminds me of the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King. Throughout the play, Sophocles makes a lot of references to eyes, with the metaphor sight versus blindness.
Early in the play, Oedipus falsely accuses Teiresias and Creon of conspiracy, he angrily calls Teiresias ‘sightless’ old man and ‘child of endless night’. Then Teiresias also responds by using the same metaphor,”you mock my blindness, do you? But I say that you with both your eyes are blind.”
At the end, Oedipus knows the truth by learning his tragic fate. He is the one who kills his own father and lies on bed with his own mother. He has committed patricide and incest. Therefore, he gouge his eyes,which have been blind to the truth for so long. He says,”How could I bear to see when all my sight was horror everywhere?”
Though Teiresias is physically blind, he sees the truth from the beginning, while Oedipus, who has physical eyesight, is blind to his fate. By the end, Oedipus makes his eyes blind when he learns the truth and finally sees.
Sometimes, people are blind spiritually in many ways. They are blind in love, money, material possessions, religion and so forth. They are so blinded that they are not aware of the dangers that lie ahead. For example, a girl falls in love with a man. In courtship, she might have seen how the man behaves and treats others badly, yet she chooses to ignore. Then she marries him but after that she realises she has made a mistake because the man beats her violently. However, it is too late for her to know it.
Of course the girl won’t be like Oedipus who gouge out his eyes for knowing the truth. But this teaches us a lesson. We should see things through spiritual eyes if we want to make a right decision. Don’t be blinded by things that seem to be appealing but actually it is not. Therefore, my friends, do not be misled by your own physical eyes!
There is one scene that impresses me a lot. The girl and her senior cook go to the market to buy fish from a blind man. They want the fresh fish. The blind man just touches the skin of the fish and smells it and he is able to get them the most fresh fish. Though he is blind physically, this does not hinder him from making good judgment.
This reminds me of the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King. Throughout the play, Sophocles makes a lot of references to eyes, with the metaphor sight versus blindness.
Early in the play, Oedipus falsely accuses Teiresias and Creon of conspiracy, he angrily calls Teiresias ‘sightless’ old man and ‘child of endless night’. Then Teiresias also responds by using the same metaphor,”you mock my blindness, do you? But I say that you with both your eyes are blind.”
At the end, Oedipus knows the truth by learning his tragic fate. He is the one who kills his own father and lies on bed with his own mother. He has committed patricide and incest. Therefore, he gouge his eyes,which have been blind to the truth for so long. He says,”How could I bear to see when all my sight was horror everywhere?”
Though Teiresias is physically blind, he sees the truth from the beginning, while Oedipus, who has physical eyesight, is blind to his fate. By the end, Oedipus makes his eyes blind when he learns the truth and finally sees.
Sometimes, people are blind spiritually in many ways. They are blind in love, money, material possessions, religion and so forth. They are so blinded that they are not aware of the dangers that lie ahead. For example, a girl falls in love with a man. In courtship, she might have seen how the man behaves and treats others badly, yet she chooses to ignore. Then she marries him but after that she realises she has made a mistake because the man beats her violently. However, it is too late for her to know it.
Of course the girl won’t be like Oedipus who gouge out his eyes for knowing the truth. But this teaches us a lesson. We should see things through spiritual eyes if we want to make a right decision. Don’t be blinded by things that seem to be appealing but actually it is not. Therefore, my friends, do not be misled by your own physical eyes!
# posted by Dr. Yee Bee Choo @ 2:00 PM 
