Seeing With a Good Eye

This article was previously published in 2016.

Abraham the Patriarch wrote a book called the Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Formation, within which he explains the gifts and forces that both control and are available in each month. It says that in the month of Tamuz, or Cancer, the power of sight and vision was created.

So, what's the secret of sight?

We know the story in the Torah about the spies. After the Israelites left Egypt, they came towards the borders of the Land of Israel, and sent 12 spies to bring back an assessment of the land. The spies journeyed through the land throughout the month of Tamuz, the month that we are now entering. But what did they do? They used their eyes and saw bad things, and therefore came back and reported all the bad things they saw. The kabbalists call it a “bad eye;” an eye that looks at a person or things and only sees the negative.

Each of us, to one degree or another, suffers from the “bad,” or negative, eye; we look at people and situations and find what's wrong with them, having an eye that tends to focus on, and see, what is negative. It’s important to be clear that all of us, to some degree or another, suffer from this. In fact, the more a person thinks he doesn’t suffer from this, the more he probably does.

However, it is very important that we have the quality of positive sight, the ability to look at somebody and not only be blind to the negative, but choose to focus on what is good. Why is it so important? In Proverbs it says, “The man, the woman, the person with a good eye, only he or she will be blessed. The one with the good eye, he or she will be blessed.” This is a very deep and important spiritual principle; our eyes - we say this all the time - are the gateways to our soul… but what does that actually mean? It means that what we look at makes us who we are. Spending time each day looking at somebody else's negative traits or looking at the negativity in a certain situation diminishes our own light. We've used those pathways into our soul and taken in negativity, and are now limited in the amount of Light we can receive.

The reason we don't want to have a bad eye, and push always to have a good eye, is not because we want to be a good person, or not because we want to be kind to other people. It's simply because we come to the understanding that when we push ourselves to see and focus on the good, we are bringing goodness into ourselves, while a person who takes the time to see what is negative, takes that negativity into him or herself, and then is limited in the amount of Light and blessings he can receive.

Therefore, the kabbalists teach that we will be tested before any blessing we are going to receive. We will be shown somebody who our eyes can either take negativity from or positivity from. If we look at that person and see goodness, then we’re taking positivity. We take in and awaken a vessel to receive the blessing that is waiting for us. But if we fall and keep going after the negative eye, then we block that next blessing from coming in.

As such, on a deeper level, the kabbalists teach that when the spies went into the Land of Israel, their job was to create a vessel. If they had focused their eyes on the good, it would have created the vessel for all the Israelites at that time to receive the Light that is called the Land of Israel. But because they chose to look negatively, they blocked their blessing from coming in; on both greater and lesser levels this is what we go through all the time.

An important quality, above many others, to guarantee an individual will receive Light and blessings, is having a good eye. This is not just a nice spiritual lesson. We all have to push to choose the good eye, because only the individual who is constantly choosing the good eye will receive the blessings he is meant to receive. Otherwise, before any blessing we’re meant to receive, small or great, we’re going to be challenged by this choice of seeing the positive or seeing the negative. And if we’re able to push - and it's work, it's a fight – but if we're able to fight for a good eye, we open ourselves up to the true blessings that we’re meant to receive.

Now, when we see somebody we don't like get something amazing, instead of getting upset, we say, “One second. I know there's an amazing gift waiting for me, and this is my test, my challenge, of whether I'll have the vessel to receive it or not. Even though I really don't like that person, I'm going to force my mind and consciousness to be happy for them, because I want to receive my blessing. And when I see somebody, I'm going to see their good. Why? Because I don't want to limit my blessing.”

This month, as the kabbalists tell us, is the month in which sight was created. It is the month in which we can take control of the eyes. And if we push ourselves constantly for a good eye, we open ourselves to all the Light and blessings we are meant to receive.