This is a great word. It means to truly “look inside”, that is to see the true nature of something. It is an important gift when you are a therapist or counselor. To truly see what the client means and needs is very important to the process. What is much harder is to apply that gift to ourselves.
At the heart of contemplative life is insight. Most of all to turn inward and see the true nature of….well….ourselves. This is powerful and difficult. We are our own worst enemies because we usually see ourselves through the veil of guilt and shame. That is not the insight God wishes us to have. He wants us to see ourselves for who really are, that is true, but who we really are in God. Sinner but forgiven and deeply loved is who we truly are.
There are those that are perfectly happy with who they see when they look inside. That is a different but very real problem. People who are satisfied with who they are, quite often are afraid of who they will find if they truly look at themselves. The most “holy” people I know are satisfied with who they are, but always in God. They have come to terms with being a sinner and have learned to see themselves (and others) through the veil of forgiving love.
True insight is just that, honest reflection about who we are, in God. But there is another aspect of insight that is equally important and that is to apply the same to others. We start with the Jesus prayer as we see ourselves: Lord have mercy on me a sinner. That is not all there is however. We then turn that self-understanding of being loved in God toward all other persons. It is only then that we can “pray for our enemies”.
Think of the flow, we turn insight on ourselves, seeing how God sees us and then we turn it on others. Seeing others the way God sees them is not as easy as it seems. Insight is also opening our eyes to how we see and treat others. I intend to turn the eyes of God, as they are applied to me, toward every person I meet. Come on, join me. Won’t it make us better people and the world a better place?
TMM