Last month I wrote that cataract surgery is both wonderful and weird. At that point, I had 20/20 vision in the right eye and could barely read the big “E” on the eye chart out of the left. But neither the “seeing” nor the procedure was the weirdest part. That comes when your self-image gets all screwed up along with your eyesight.

Last Wednesday I had a new lens put into the left eye and, to quote the beautiful Johnny Nash, I can see clearly now. Sort of.

I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It’s gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day . . .

As of today, the seeing thing is still weird because, for the first time in over 60 years, I’m no longer nearsighted. The clarity comes when I look off into the distance. Everything from the end of my outstretched arm to the horizon is beautifully clear and crisp. Yet when I pull out my phone, it is all fuzzy. Reading glasses are now a necessity for everything from work on the computer to navigating a menu to reading books in bed. Yikes!

My friend and mentor Frank Wade made the point that this whole seeing thing may be weird in more ways than one. “The Chinese have a saying, ‘Most of what we see is behind our eyes.’” In other words, Frank notes, we see what we expect to see, not necessarily what is really there. We force the world into our preconceptions and because of that we miss a lot, whether we have new eyes or not.

Think of racial profiling, advertising slogans, and our experience of God. Frank suggests that in each one we come to the table with preconceived notions instead of looking afresh at what is right in front of us. It was Marcel Proust who once said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

On this first Saturday after receiving my full set of new eyes, let’s highlight a few songs about the wonder of sight.

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I Can See Clearly Now

Johnny Nash’s anthem about a bright future has been recorded by many artists including the reggae and soul singer Jimmy Cliff. But I most enjoy the version by the incomparable Ray Charles who, although he contracted glaucoma at age six that literally left him blind, could see so much more than many of us with 20/20 vision.

Ranked #10 on the Rolling Stone list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time,” Charles was called by none other than Frank Sinatra, “the only true genius in show business.”

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Doctor My Eyes

Jackson Browne‘s Doctor My Eyes takes a different path to understanding sight. The bouncy beat and bright piano chords belie a sadness and tone of weariness from the singer. The American Songwriter provides an explanation of what’s behind the song.

“Doctor My Eyes” is sung from the perspective of a reflective, hardened narrator. He’s lived a challenging life, and regrets that a jaded mentality may have left him cold and senseless. The song sets a scene of introverted desperation in its opening lines . . .

The chorus echoes this sentiment. Browne ponders whether he should have turned the other cheek to shield himself from the true nature of our cruel world. Was I unwise to leave them open for so long? he questions of his eyes in the chorus’s closing line, seemingly yearning to regain naivety.

I saw Browne play this song live in a Nashville concert while I was still in college. We’ve both clearly been around a long time, and a jaded outlook might seem appropriate given the years. Yet the Songwriter posits that Browne had a more hopeful outlook than the lyrics might suggest on first reading.

Once you get past the heartbreak and depression at the root of the track, though, a more uplifting meaning begins to reveal itself, namely that it’s important to process your emotions, even when the going gets tough . . . Sometimes things can be painful, but finding the good at the heart of any struggle can shape you into being a stronger person.

In a wonderful video we get to experience the magic of musical collaboration. Playing for Change brings together Browne and a dozen other great musicians from around the world. Collectively they “create an evocative piece that speaks to the unifying power of music” and sight.

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Amazing Grace

It seems appropriate to end the post with one of the best known and most loved hymns of all time.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
  That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
  Was blind, but now I see.

The lyrics are a poem, written in 1773, by Rev. John Newton—a former slave ship captain who not only fully recanted his egregious sins but became a minister and the first abolitionist to state that slavery was inhumane.

The Blind Boys of Alabama sing Amazing Grace to the tune of House of the Rising Sun, proving once again that true vision comes from more than the eyes.

There is really only one version of the song residing at the pinnacle. As I wrote in a 2019 review of Amazing Grace—the movie of Aretha Franklin’s 1972 recording of the gospel album of the same name—her version is a national treasure. 

The Reverend James Cleveland, who was a gospel legend himself, plays solid back-up to the Queen.  When her whole being goes into another world during Amazing Grace, Cleveland is literally overcome. It is an arresting, emotional moment.

The official audio version captures the music from that day while a video taken from the movie shows the power of her performance.

As we learn to hold the “both/and” of human existence and possibility, may your sight, in whatever condition, be open to seeing both the needs of the world and the wonder of creation that is all around us.

Pay attention. Look with new eyes. See clearly. Be astonished. Tell about it.

More to come . . .

DJB

Image by Sergey Nemo from Pixabay.