True Enlightenment

We hear a lot about “enlightenment” these days, but what is true enlightenment? As one who almost went into medicine, I am fascinated by anatomy and became very intrigued by Paul’s words the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know (Eph. 1:18.) Enlightened is photizo (English “photo”) and means “to give light, to shine.” It speaks here then of giving understanding. As the Psalmist declares, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14), and nowhere is this truer than the eye. Let’s consider some parallels.

Sight begins when light, in varying wavelengths, travels through the dime-­sized, transparent cornea, passes through the iris, which controls the amount of light that enters the eye, and then strikes the lens, which bends the light and focuses it on the retina. Our “spiritual eye” likewise controls the amount of information that enters and puts it into focus. This gives us the idea of discernment, the ability to distinguish one thing from another, Truth from error.

The retina, the innermost layer of the eye wall, lines the rear two‑thirds of the eye and is extremely sensitive to light. It converts the energy of light waves into nerve impulses, which are then transmitted along the optic nerve to the brain. In the same way our “spiritual eye” is extremely sensitive to light or the absence of it.

Although it covers less than a square inch, the retina contains 137 million light ­sensitive receptor cells, 130 million of which are rods for black‑and­-white vision, night vision, and motion detection, and the remaining seven million are cones for color vision. The rods, which are scattered all over the retina, react to even the smallest ray of light. Light bleaches a colored pigment in the rods called rhodopsin. This bleaching action generates an electrical response (a few millionths of a volt) that in turn is fed into the straw‑sized optic nerve and carried to the brain. The entire complex electrochemi­cal process takes about two thousandths of a second. Even more intricate is the process whereby the cones sort out color. The prevailing theory is that the cones have red, green, and blue bleachable pigments and that these colors are blended to make all the other hues.

The analogy of this to our “spiritual eye” is dramatic. There are millions more rods than cones, showing us how important black-and-white is. In a day when Relativism rules, how we need black-and-white absolutes! Color is wonderful, but it’s the rod’s reaction to even the smallest ray of light that we need so desperately. Additionally, a “spiritual eye” does all this virtually instantaneously, immediately discerning Truth from error.

Again, the optic nerve takes all this information to the brain for processing. One of the most fascinating aspects of this is that because light travels through the single lens of the eye, the image that it projects on the retina is actually inverted. The brain is, therefore, programmed to flip the image so we see it right side up. Binoculars and refractor telescopes, for example, have two lens, which flip the image twice so we can see it right side up. The brain does this and many other things so we can understand what we see. Likewise, our spiritual mind understands what we see.

Still another miracle of sight is our stereoscopic vision, what is called “depth perception.” We see depth because we have two eyes. This is achieved when the optic nerves from the two eyes fuse at the optic chiasma, a major nerve junction near the brain. When the image reaches the brain, the right half of a field of vision “crosses over” and registers in the left brain, and the left half of a field registers in the right brain. The brain is, therefore, able to superimpose the “left” picture on the “right” picture and we see depth. What a thrilling parallel this is to our spiritual sight! With two “spiritual eyes” we can see the depth of God’s Truth.

Indeed, Paul’s use of the phrase the eyes of your understanding being enlightened is full of significance. It is through our “spiritual eyes” that we are enlightened and know God’s truth. Dear Christian, you might not have the physical eyes of legendary fighter and test pilot Chuck Yeager, who could see enemy planes fifty miles away, but God has given you perfect spiritual sight if you but use it.