The Difference Between Secular and Spiritual Seeing
To truly see Hashem in our lives, we must shift our perspective—much like stepping from darkness into the sunlight. This transformation requires patience and learning new ways of seeing. Just as our eyes need time to adjust to bright light, our spiritual vision also requires intentional refinement.
Research from the 1970s on childhood development revealed a fascinating insight: children who were not conditioned to linear thinking could perceive things holistically. For instance, instead of counting individual dots, they could immediately recognize the total number at a glance. Their perception was not fragmented but whole.
This concept directly relates to spiritual awareness. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, in his work The Lights of Holiness, contrasts secular seeing with spiritual seeing. Secular vision focuses on fragmented details—like looking at grains of sand under a magnifying glass—while spiritual seeing perceives the entire landscape.
How to Train Yourself to See Hashem Everywhere
Imagine using a camera lens: a zoom lens isolates specific elements, while a wide-angle lens captures the full picture. Spiritual seeing is about stepping back and embracing the whole view, understanding that every detail has a place within a greater reality. The broader your perspective, the more clearly you will recognize Hashem’s presence in your life.
While details matter, it is the bigger picture that brings them to life. Seeing holistically does not mean ignoring details but rather contextualizing them within a grander design. When we expand our awareness, we increase our connection to reality itself, allowing Hashem to be fully present in our experience.
Kabbalah teaches that perception shapes experience. What we choose to focus on determines how we engage with the world. By training ourselves to perceive Hashem as the “allness” that unifies existence, we open the door for His presence to manifest more fully in our lives. Just as a child naturally perceives the whole before the parts, we, too, can cultivate a perspective that reveals the divine unity underlying all things.
Adjusting our vision takes effort, but the reward is immense. By shifting from a fragmented perspective to a holistic one, we invite Hashem into our lives in the most profound way. In doing so, we step out of the shadows and into the radiant light of spiritual clarity.
Expanding Your Vision
By practicing spiritual seeing, we can unlock deeper awareness and connection to Hashem in everyday life. Expanding our perspective allows us to experience the divine more fully and recognize the profound unity in all things.
