There is No “I” in “Eye See You”

Here is another item that I would add to my Book of Not So Much: I hate it when a movie takes really good phrase and serves it up to the audience, like a cheap Monterey Jack cheese (that would be Kraft), shredded, and on a bed of emotional goop and slop. Take, for example, James Cameron’s movie, Avatar. I used to like the saying, “I see you.” Post Avatar and its theme songification, this phrase now has humorous appeal, complete with hand gestures (one hand over the heart while the other hand models a back and forth pointing motion from one’s set of eyes to an onlooker). When sentiment is used to manipulate our collective heartstrings, we know that we are being played, and in response, the deepest part of our beings laugh, gag, and scoff at the cheap shot, even though at another level we sob along with the soundtrack and into our super-sized bags of popcorn …. *cries momma!*.

Consume a Meat Lover’s Panormous dish at Pizza Hut and you will remember craving. Savor an artisan pizza and you will remember who you were with at the time, the sounds that serenaded your conversation, and the subtle chorus of spices that change with each mouthful.

Pop culture perverts myth. Although it has the power to reach the masses, it doesn’t sustain us; whereas mythology is spiritual super food. A good story can make us remember our earliest beginnings and imagine our far reaching destination in the future. It fuels our evolution. My recent experience has me reflecting on eyes and sight. And so I turn to story and myth to understand its true power.

The other week, a dear Italian friend told me about the Mediterranean folklore that is behind  “the evil eye,” which in Italy is called “Malocchio.”  A person is given the evil eye if another is jealous of her success, beauty, or good fortune. And in giving Malocchio to one who has enjoyed goodness, a curse is cast upon him in the form of bad luck or misfortune. Although some may intend to cast a spell of bad luck, most often it is done unconsciously, as one cannot always help feeling jealous of another. And so people who fear the curse of the evil eye wear protective amulets: nazars, blue eyes, the Hand of Fatima. The folklore holds that children and animals are most vulnerable to the evil eye, which makes sense, as they are the purest form of beauty and goodness.

Is this folklore too old country and just way out there ? I don’t think so. Consider moments when you had a great idea, a deep desire or hope, or just received good news. It is natural to guard it for a period of time. Sometimes we will say that we don’t want bad luck to wreck the opportunity or we may not want to have the work/art in progress subjected to negative criticism. We need protective space around what is precious and in its earliest stages of development until it reaches maturity. Only then can it withstand the full range of forces that will act upon it once it is released into the cosmos.

Consider another symbol: The Eye of Horus: in this myth, the god, Horus, associated with the sun, sky and falcon, avenges his father’s (Osiris) death. In the process, he loses an eye (and yes, it wasn’t funny). Thoth, a god who is associated with the moon, repairs the eye by piecing the fractional parts back together. The repaired eye, short by 1/64 of what it used to be, was given back to Horus. In return, Horus, gives the new eye to his father, which results in Osiris’ resurrection.

I love the details of this myth. The eye that was lost was the left one. Left is associated with the moon, a reflective source of light. We think of the moon moving tides. And what is most interesting is that the healed eye is slightly off of its original proportions. It is this eye that has the power to heal.

Creative vision is indirect and feminine. Various portions of the moon are visible to us at different points in time in the lunar cycle. And no matter how much light the moon may cast, there is always a reserved fraction that is dark. Imagine that kind of vision! Whereas we think of the sun as exposing, the moon reflects, reveals, and hides – the portion may vary depending on the context.

Back to “I See You.” When we say that to a loved one, we know that we don’t see all of who they are. But the vision is kind and loving. And we know that we want to extend that vision freely, sans jealousy. And for all that is hopeful in that perspective, we also know that it is impossible to offer a complete and unfettered vision of our loved one to them. So we seek and ask for protection for those parts that require more time to develop.

A less ominous and non-threatening version of Malocchio is the stink-eye. Feel free to offer that up anytime you see something that crowds your vision of a kinder-gentler place. One does not need a protective amulet from the dreaded stink-eye, just a bit of humility and humor.