Dresden Files

I don’t know if you’ve read the Dresden Files series. It’s about a wizard living in modern-day Chicago, fighting supernatural forces and helping the police catch bad guys. I read the first book, and in it, there was an interesting concept of a wizard’s “third eye,” which essentially allows him and other wizards to lift the veil of the apparent and see the world in its “real” mystical, magical, hideous fundamental nature. It implies that the world we see is not the real world. Rather, what we see is a mask of more palatable images concealing the hideous “real” world. The same concept appears in the movie, They Live, and The Matrix, and probably others. 

It got me to thinking about our world and how we see people. I think we tend to view most people (especially ourselves) in their best light. We see ministers and church ladies and shepherds and philanthropists as “good people,” and we put murderers, child molesters, rapists and politicians into a different category. And, I think we probably see people in both groups as better than they actually are. After all, a sin is a sin, and there are no degrees of disobedience. Still, I tend to think that people aren’t as bad as the worst thing they ever did, nor as good as the best thing they ever did, but are somewhere in between. 

 I wonder what we would see if we had a “third eye.” What would we see if the veil of the apparent were lifted, or if we had those cool shades that allowed us to see beyond the real world? What if we were able to see people as God sees them? Would we be more compassionate toward one another? Would we be repulsed by them? Seeing ourselves with clear eyes, would we hide from others and scramble for a fig leaf big enough to cover our shame? It’s the blood of Jesus, I suppose, that puts that veil back on us and makes us palatable (acceptable) to God.  

Jesus had the ability to see people unveiled, I think. So, why don’t people have the ability to see each other for who they really are?