Seeing with the Eyes of Love
“Love is perfect kindness born in and from the eyes."— Joseph Campbell
This morning brought one of those rare moments when the Tree of Serendipity offered not one book, but two.
The first was Songs of Kabir. Tucked inside was a small card I had written years ago with a quote from Joseph Campbell:
"Love is perfect kindness born in and from the eyes."
When I opened the book, Kabir seemed to answer that very thought:
"Oh brother, he who has seen that radiance of love is saved."
As I sat with those words, another sentence quietly arose within me:
The one who sees the radiance of love is healed.
Perhaps salvation and healing begin in the same place—not by becoming someone different, but by learning to see differently.
Kabir continues:
"The river and its waves are one... When the wave rises it is the water, and when it falls it is the same water again."
Then comes the image that made me smile.
He writes that the worlds are strung together like beads on a rosary, inviting us to look upon that sacred mala with the eyes of wisdom.
What a beautiful companion to Joseph Campbell's reminder that love itself is born through the eyes.
Then the second book emerged.
Mantak Chia's Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality opened to the chapter on the Inner Smile.
He reminds us to smile first with our eyes, then allow that smile to fill the heart, and finally let it spread throughout the entire body. He writes that when we cultivate a peaceful, loving heart, "our troubles melt away."
How extraordinary that these three teachers, separated by centuries and cultures, were all pointing toward the same quiet truth.
See with loving eyes.
Smile with the whole body.
Remember the radiance that has never left.
Chia says, "When a trying situation arises, no matter what it might be, you have to learn not to be drawn in by it."
Reflecting on this, I realized that trying situations, anxiety, and unhealthy thoughts arise often throughout my day—especially sometimes when I'm hiking, running, or doing any kind of cardio. It's almost as though they were quietly waiting beneath the surface, ready to be released.
I've learned that most of the time, I don't need to fix or resolve them.
If I simply notice them with kindness and keep going, they often dissolve as naturally as a cloud passing through a wide blue sky.
Awareness itself seems to know how to complete what no longer needs to be carried.
Perhaps the Inner Smile is simply another way of meeting these visitors—with warmth instead of resistance.
Today I'm grateful for Kabir, Joseph Campbell, and Mantak Chia—for reminding me that wisdom often arrives from many directions, all pointing toward the same living truth.
May we see with the eyes of love.
May our hearts become radiant.
May our smiles bring healing wherever we go.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti!
p.s. the photo presented here is from the very spot and moment I was finishing this podcast episode... I was amazed when I looked at it just now to add... I have never seen this before and I've taken many sunrise pictures... there is a sphere that unmistakably resembles an eye... and eye opening even! I embellished it very slightly for the viewer...
