Life without Us

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

These lines are well-known from the book, The Little Prince. But often, we try to see everything with our eyes. We try to understand the world around us, even the universe beyond us, with our sights and minds.

Seeing is believing. This attitude seems more critical for our scientific approaches. In other words, we can’t trust anything until we “see” what we seek by our perceptions. Perhaps, this stance is crucial for us to avoid blind faith, biases, and prejudices. We have overcome the various superstitions, even cruelties, with this attitude, which should be praiseworthy.

We often tend to rely too much on this approach as if seeing is everything, which would lead us to the attitude that the world is what we see alone. Life is what we experience alone. So does the universe.

Is there such a world and universe without us? All the knowledge we possess could be articulation for us to understand them. If so, what is the world around us? What is the universe beyond us? What is life for us? Can all these things stand and exist without us?

So, we should ask these questions.

• What is the world without us?
• What is the universe without us?
• What is life without us?

Paradoxically, by removing “us” from the equations, their true faces would reveal themselves. So does God’s true face.

Can we see God? No, we can’t. God is not what we understand. God is not what we love, either. So, who is He? God is only He who loves us.

Is the world full of troubles? Is the universe too elusive? Is life suffering? Can’t we believe in God? Let’s remove “us” from the equation. Let’s remove our eyes and minds. Forget ourselves beyond the spacetime of our petty existence and indulgence.

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

John 20:29

Only with such selflessness could our heart reveal itself to see the true faces. I always remember the following lines from James Allen.

Believe that a life of absolute meekness is possible; believe that a life of stainless purity is possible; believe that a life of perfect holiness is possible; believe that the realization of the highest truth is possible. He who so believes, climbs rapidly the heavenly hills, whilst the unbelievers continue to grope darkly and painfully in the fog-bound valleys.

The Way of Peace by James Allen

Only without us “we can believe” these perfect things transcending everything in the eye. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Image by 7436844

Originally published at http://tomyonashiro.com on July 3, 2022.