Seeing the Divine Through Icons, Art, and One Another

Integral Christian Devotional Practices: Gazing Part 2

David, king, poet, and prophet, revealed his deepest longings when he wrote: “One thing have I asked of God, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the presence of God all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of God” (Psalm 27:4).

Previously I said that the heart of spiritual devotion to God comes alive by gazing into the visionary or symbolic eyes of personal forms of God’s divine friendship. These can include God’s motherly-fatherly presence, the Living Jesus, Mary, other spiritual companions, physically present friends, and the beauty of creation itself whose cosmic eyes do indeed gaze back at us. We continue here to explore that theme.

Gazing upon the beauty of God in its many forms—deep, attentive looking—can be integrated into our lives as a spiritual practice.

The Christ Pantocrator of St. Catherine’s Monastery at Sinai One of the oldest Eastern Roman religious icons, dating from the 6th century AD.

Gazing with Icons

Icons (from the Greek εἰκών eikṓn, image) are a form of prayer. “Jesus is the image (icon) of the invisible God” (Col.1:15).  When you look at an icon, it is meant to make you aware that you are in the presence of God. Icons, then, are not just art with a religious theme. Instead, they are sacred art because they bring the viewer to the holy.  They are primarily found in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic, and certain Eastern Catholic churches.

With icons, we look an image of the Intimate Face of God-Beside-Us either as a painting or sculpture. When one fixes their undivided attention on these images over a substantial period, the images may come to life and enter into animated dialogue with the practitioner. With an icon, the image seems to look at you, coming nearer and nearer, even into your soul. Notice how prominent the eyes are in icons. The belief is that the sacred person imaged is looking at you — and at heaven — both at the same time.

Icon writer Linette Martin explains it this way: “The pictures are not there just to be looked at as though the worshipers were in an art museum; they are designed to be doors between this world and another world, between people and the Incarnate God, his Mother, or his friends, the saints.

Icons encourage the worshipper to forge a personal relationship to the holy figure. In western Europe, a form of spirituality that emphasized the emotional involvement of the faithful emerged by 1300. Believers were encouraged to contemplate events from the life of Christ, the Virgin, or the saints as if they were present.  

Spiritual Gazing with artists’ images

The writer of Hebrews puts it succinctly: “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (12:2).  I was attempting to do that sixty years ago when I purchased my first large, exquisite copy of a well-known painting of Jesus. It was Salvador Dali's Christ of St. John of the Cross. I have since collected over 240 artist’s images of Jesus from around the world. The Faces of Jesus Collection hung in the hallways of the church I pastored for twenty years as groups from all over the Midwest came to see it. When I retired six years ago, they were given to a local college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. They are now permanently installed in their own dedicated gallery across from the college auditorium.

Some disparage images of Jesus that are much loved by primarily traditional folks. The integral approach does not see any need to belittle the pictures that some people hold dear. They may not have high artistic merit and may seem ridiculously cheesy or sentimental to you. However, if someone is drawn to a particular image and feels closer to God because of it, we honor and value it.

Spiritual gazing with one another

The mysterious but powerful reality of gazing at another person and having them return your gaze can lead to a direct experience of God’s presence. Children naturally look at each other in the eyes. However, we must first overcome our embarrassment and learned avoidance of this sustained looking In cities and much of modern life it’s called "staring" and frowned upon. When our gazing comes from our heart center, it becomes more natural to gaze at one another, mutually engaging our deeper Self.

Will Johnson, in Gazing at the Beloved, writes:

“When eye contact between two people is initiated and maintained, an invisible energetic circuit is established between the two participants, dissolving the barriers that ordinarily separate them from each other, drawing them ever closer into a shared awareness of union. This experience of union is always pervaded by the feeling tone of love, just as the experience of separation from others, as well as from the larger world we inhabit, tends to breed feelings of fear and alienation.

“We live in a culture that worships the individual, embarrassed by joint forays into the Divine. Dropping down into the Great Ground of Being is our heritage and true birthright as humans on this planet. In our culture, this most natural of actions, the holding of the gaze between two people, is taboo. And, yet, how tragic it is that we turn away from this heritage, forfeiting our birthright in the act of fear.”

In his book The Spiritual Practices of Rumi, Johnson talks about an extraordinary account of the practice of gazing from Konya, Turkey, in 1244. This was between the renowned poet, Sufi teacher, and originator of the dance of the whirling dervish, Jalaluddin Rumi, and a wandering seeker named Shams-i Tabriz.

Out of the transformation that occurred through Rumi's encounter with Shams, Rumi began writing some of the most glorious poetry about the soul's return to God that has ever been composed. Here are two of my favorite Rumi quotes.

“Love is the bridge between you and everything.”
“With every breath, I plant the seeds of devotion, I am a farmer of the heart.”

Spiritual Gazing Alone

Staring in a mirror can alter your consciousness. You can do intentional spiritual gazing alone by looking into your own eyes with a mirror. This can deepen your relationship with yourself through gentle observation.  Allow yourself to get comfortable looking into your own eyes. It is normal to focus on one or the other eye. You may light a candle off to the side, not in front of you, in a darkened room. Let go of any expectations. Observe what feelings and thoughts come up while your eyes soften and go out of focus.  After 5 or 10 minutes, your surroundings may become blurred, and your appearance may change. Send love to any all changes in your face that may appear. Sometimes I and others experience our face vanishing. It is essential to stay grounded. By loving any appearance you see, you reduce the separation and integrate them as part of your Self.

Your Divine Beloved may appear, and you can talk with one another in a visionary way in the form of Jesus, Mary, the saints, or other spiritual guides. This is a way to begin to sense your inner divine energy behind your outer appearance. The most profound power comes from your incarnated divine Self.

I love these words about God-Being-Us from Rumi and Hafiz, both Persian ecstatic Sufi mystic poets, whose work celebrated and encouraged union with God: 

Rumi, echoing Jesus, writes,

“I looked for God. I went to a temple and I didn't find him there. Then I went to a church and I didn't find him there. Then I went to a mosque and I didn't find him there. Then finally I looked in my heart and there he was.”

Hafiz, in the rendering by Daniel Ladinsky, says,

“When no one is looking, I swallow deserts and clouds and chew on mountains knowing they are sweet bones! When no one is looking and I want to kiss God, I just lift my own hand to my mouth.”