Vision is one of the five senses that gather information to be adept at where we are concerning space and time. Science consistently reiterates that more than 75% of your senses, including hearing, taste, smell, and even touch, are gathered from visual stimuli (1).
During past times, the most significant designs were either a copy of something successful in their own right; for example, planes were created and invented in a way that represented birds. Submarines were designed and developed in their relation to fish and swim animals. The camera was built and invented from the beautiful creation of the eye. Both a camera and an eye gather light, then represent them into a picture (2).
They both have lenses that focus on the incoming light. Cameras interpret light and create a picture. The eye allows light to focus on a layer of specialized cells to produce an image or a picture that we see (2).
Anatomy Parts of the Eye
The orbit is the skull’s socket — the cheekbone, forehead, temple, and nose border. The orbit is essential because of its large blood vessels, nerves, and muscles that move the eye. The orbit also allows for crying because it holds the lacrimal gland that lubricates and moistening the eye. These glands are also crucial in clearing away foreign matter that can enter the air (2).
Protection of the eye includes eyelids and eyelashes that hold a vital purpose in protecting the eye from dust, dirt, debris, and bright light. When you blink, tears cover the eye and keep the eye moist (2).
The conjunctiva is a layer of tissue in front of the eye that is underneath the eyelids (1).
The sclera is the white part of the eye. The sclera gives the eye its shape and allows muscles to pull the eye in different directions. The modification provides a range of motion to occur in the eye (1).
The iris is the colored part of the eye that gives people blue, green, or brown eyes. The cornea is right in front of the iris. Contact lenses rest on the cornea because the cornea is just like that camera that focuses light as it enters the eye and allows the brain to interpret what we see (2).
The iris is the ring around the eye that has a central opening called the pupil. The pupil is what constricts and contracts due to light. In bright light, the pupil will constrict, and when the pupil contracts, there is dilation, and the eye becomes larger. This change occurs under darkness when the eye attempts to gather as much light as possible to see (2).
Many structures are responsible for draining out the eye. The aqueous humor drains the eye, and when not functioning correctly, pressure can build and cause nerve damage that can lead to vision loss or glaucoma. The posterior chamber also helps to nourish the cornea and lens (2).
As you can see (no pun intended), the eye is a marvelous but reasonably complicated structure. Due to its complexity, there are many mechanisms to protect it and help it function correctly.
The retina is like the film of the eye. When a camera takes a picture, it takes that image and builds it through the film. When the light goes through the retina, chemical neurons are activated, and these cells cause electrical signals to transmit to the optic nerve, which then carries these signals to the brain. When these signals get to the brain, it interprets them as images we can understand. The retina is like the film in which our eyes use pictures to interpret them (2).
Two cells initiate these reactions — rods responsible for low light situations and activate at night. Cones allow people to see color.
The macula contains the highest concentration of cones, which helps us see color and sharpens our vision (2).
The choroid is between the retina and sclera and has a blood vessel to nourish the retina (2).
So do we see upside down?
The answer is yes!
Conditions of the Eye
As light enters our eye, the front part of the eye is curved, and that means it will bend this light and create an upside-down image on the retina. When the light transmits to the brain, it flips these images the right way (1).
Nearsighted people have a situation in which the cornea and lens do not focus correctly on the retina. Nearsightedness is typically when the eyeball is elongated, and the image focuses in front of the retina. For far distances, pictures become blurry due to the distance of the eyeball concerning the retina.
Farsightedness is when the eyeball is too short. The image focuses behind the retina; thus, it allows people to see far distances but brings trouble with near distances reading words or viewing pictures (2).
God’s presence is impressive. We feel it. It’s a spirit, a guide. As humans, I’m not sure why it’s hard to believe in something we can’t see. We feel the gust of wind, the breath of oxygen, and the intensity of gravity. All of which are things that we cannot see (2).
Yet why is it hard to believe in an invisible God that is everywhere? Wouldn’t that, and shouldn’t that, make more sense to think that an all-powerful being can be everywhere at once? What would happen if we had the gift of seeing God? Would our eyes and minds even be able to comprehend the magnitude of such a view?
Octavius, a first-century Christian, states, “We can neither see nor display the God that we worship. And it’s for this very reason that we believe Him to be God. You can’t see the breezes and storm winds. But they move and shake all things. Even though the sun furnished light to see all the things, you can’t look directly at the sun. If you do, you’ll lose light altogether. So how do you think you could gaze directly at the Architect of the sun himself-the ultimate source of all light. You even turn away from his lightning bolts and hide from his thunderclaps. Do you wish to see God with your physical eyes when you can’t even see your soul, which gives you life and enables you to speak?”
Octavius goes on to talk about light and the fullness of light. Light’s highest quality is that it can penetrate the darkest corner. The sun can cover the vastness of space with its light.
This power is undeniable due to the millions of miles of space that separate us from the sun. This presence can also compare to God’s presence. God lives in another dimension from us. A purely spiritual dimension, yet his light doesn’t just pass through spiritual materials but connects the spiritual to the physical of what we can see and touch. This spiritual light enables him to encompass his omnipresence and omnipotent characteristics.
To see God is to see glory. He must hide to protect us. Even very few people in the Bible have seen God’s face, and those who have seen His face experienced a supernatural change that affected them physically. Moses’s face became an illumination of light after his time with God.
The only people that maybe had more of a casual experience with God’s presence were Adam and Eve. But this was before sin entered the world. And once they sinned, they had to be cast away from God’s presence. Because he hated them? No, because He loved them. He knew that at their sinful state, His glory would be enough to destroy them.
God still desired a relationship with his creation, and so we see throughout the Bible that God would use his words to communicate with people. “The word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Even today, God’s word through the pages of the Bible is what speaks to us. There will come a day, however, where we will finally see the face of God.
Why does God gift us with His word and not his visual presence? When we contemplate the body’s five senses; touch, taste, vision, audio, and smell, which one would be the hardest to give up? Most people say vision. Our eyesight encompasses about 80% of what we take in with our senses. And yet, what happens if you take one of these senses away?
What usually tends to happen is that the body compensates by increasing the sensitivity of another body part. For example, people that are born blind have an incredible knack for hearing and touching. Those who are deaf can read lips in an incredibly efficient and accurate way.
What if God did this on purpose. What if he’s saving the sense of vision for the day when we come into His glory? And in our time on earth, the primary thing he wants us to focus on is hearing his word. What does that build? It builds faith.
“Those who have faith in God see God.”
“It is impossible to please God without faith.”
Why is faith so important?
Faith is what God wants you to build to connect to His presence even when we can’t see Him physically. It is the closest thing we can get to feel God’s glory while on this earth. God may take vision away so that we learn to build other areas of our spirituality. I also believe that he keeps his face hidden until the day of judgment, where “every knee will bow, every tongue will confess.”
If you want to see God, pursue faith in Him. How do you do that? You can start by trusting Him, by seeking Him, and believing in Him. You can begin by also following His Word. Don’t just listen to what the Bible says; follow and obey the words. “Faith comes from hearing the word of God.” Faith is kept by doing the word of God.
You don’t have to stare directly at the sun to know that it’s there. That’s dangerous and could physically blind you. Don’t stare; feel the rays of sunshine on your skin. Feel the warmth, the light, the shadows that it makes on the ground. The sun is a reminder of God’s eternal light. And how He wants that light to shine in you. “For you are the light of the world….”
Incredibly, God’s spiritual light can penetrate your soul and cause you to have such faith that that light builds from within so that you may be a light for others.
Next time you watch a sunset, don’t just think of its beauty. Think of its source. Think of how that source also works in you.
References
Dahl, Andrew A. “Human Eye Ball Anatomy & Physiology Diagram.” EMedicineHealth, EMedicineHealth, 19 Oct. 2018, www.emedicinehealth.com/anatomy_of_the_eye/article_em.htm#anterior_chamber.
Rtromans. “The Eyes: Protecting Sight.” Sightsavers, Sightsavers, 18 Dec. 2017, www.sightsavers.org/protecting-sight/the-eyes/.
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