Seeker Magazine

The Nature of Vision

by Steve Schlarb

Vision as Breakthrough
A vision is a breakthrough of the unconscious mind into consciousness. Whether the dream or realization that constitutes the vision has been suppressed, or is something new, it has hitherto been lacking in the conscious intellect. Otherwise, it would have been already known by the conscious mind and considered part of the routine thinking of the individual.
The vision impacts the conscious mind's paradigm (mental model of reality) as a creative shock that changes the person's basic assumptions about fundamental truths regarding reality, be it material or spiritual. The vision has tremendous creative energy, due to its germinating in the unconscious, blocked out by the conscious mind, to the extent that high energy is required for it to breakthrough. This high-energy realization overcomes any inertia in the conscious mind, which has been previously content to dwell in a comfort zone of assumptions that gave the person a false sense of permanence in all things related to perceived reality.
Vision as Challenge
By its high energy and breakthrough character, the vision or realization challenges or even compels the person to leave his or her mental and emotional comfort zone. The vision has a purpose -- to enlighten the individual to a higher or fuller realization of reality. It is a destroyer of complacency, and a driving force of creativity. In the spiritual realm, it is a challenge to the person to think, believe, and live on a higher plane than where the person was content to dwell.
Vision may give a comfort of its own, answering a hidden or misunderstood need that the person may have had deep in their psyche. But that comfort or sustenance comes at a price. The person will face the challenge, now ever present in the conscious mind, of fulfilling the creative demands for personal growth which the vision represents.
Vision as Destiny
The vision, while giving sustenance, and constantly challenging the conscious mind, also represents the ultimate goal for the person's spiritual growth. The person's spiritual path has now become clear. In fact, after the vision initially comes, the person will realize that his entire life was a path, albeit an unclear and stumbling one, leading up to the point of the vision breakthrough. From that point on, the vision becomes the person's destiny.
By destiny, it is not meant that the person has a fate, which is an end predetermined by other forces than the individual. Destiny is not fatalistic. Destiny is a potential for the individual, who retains free will and responsibility for attaining.
If the person has the integrity and will to accept both the sustenance and the challenge of the vision, then the path to higher spiritual ground will be clear of obstacles. For an obstacle is only an excuse to avoid one's destiny. The vision will always contain within it the means to proceed along the right path for that person. It is ultimately the person's acceptance of their destiny that determines whether or not that destiny will be attained.
Vision as Gift
In the course of human life, the attractions and distractions of others -- family, friends, society -- can overwhelm the individual with demands for conformance to their will and concepts. A person can remain lost in life, merely following the urge of wanting to belong, be accepted by others, driven by instincts and hormones, and never engage the higher intellect or soul in a self-determining manner. Sometimes, this lost life ends in despair.
If a person receives a vision-dream or new mental paradigm that opens the conscious mind to a higher spiritual path, it should be understood as a gift. Others may not see it that way, demanding that the person conform with their mental paradigm or comfort zone. But the person who has been blessed with this spiritual gift, has a higher duty to the Source of that gift. The sense of peaceful joy and self-harmony that the vision can bring, if accepted, far outshines the meager, burnt-out hopes left behind.
For the first time, the person receiving the vision will realize that the life they are living is truly their own. No longer a product of other people's expectations, the individual becomes self-actualizing. This is the process of self-fulfillment, not for gratification, but to serve a higher purpose. There can be no greater gift.
Vision as Spirit of God
If the person accepts and actualizes the vision, then the upward path to spiritual heights may begin. Along this path, a gradual and fuller understanding of the vision will develop. The further along this path of spiritual destiny that the person travels, the closer comes the realization of the vision's Source. The vision and the path are not only a destiny, or a mission for the individual's life. They are, in fact, the means of realizing, for that person, the Source of all creation and inspiration.
Each person has their own path. Many never accept or understand that special event in their minds when the vision breaks through. But it is a gift to the soul from the Source of the soul. It remains up to each of us to recognize, to accept, and to follow.
In the Wisdom of Solomon, the writer speaks of his vision of wisdom:
I saw that there was no way to gain
possession of her except by gift of
God --
and it was a mark of understanding to
know from whom that gift must come.

From the Wisdom of Solomon, Chapter 8:21
(NEB)

(c) 1998 Steve Schlarb
Steve's Website - Vision in Various Religions

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Steve Schlarb [osiris1@airmail.net ]

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