See that tree?
What’s a tree?
You know, with the limbs and branches,
Reaching up to the sky.
What’s the sky?

Physical blindness can’t be hidden
By bravado or denial
By pretending to have vision
Because sooner or later someone
Will call you out and ask, See that tree?

There are different kinds of blindness.
Some are congenital or progressive.
Others are immediate and catastrophic
Caused by disease or violence
Forever closing the window to the world.

The worst blindness is not in the eyes
But in the heart, from inside the soul;
It is a willed disease caused by
Pride, ignorance, or fear
And resulting in a film covering the heart.

Blindness of the heart deceives its victim
Whispering, “Your eyes are clearer and
truer in sight than anyone else’s”
Even though everyone around you
Sees the ideological post you just walked into.

Jesus once healed a blind man, Bartimaeus
Who called out to him and said,
‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’
“What do you want me to do for you,” Jesus said.
“Let me see again,” said the blind man.

Blindness of the heart does not yield to healing.
It will not admit it exists, nor its hubris.
Self-sin is not sin to this willful person.
Righteousness is the name given to prejudice and bigotry
When the heart is covered with a cataract.

Blindness of the heart
Can only be healed by becoming vulnerable
By realizing that the membrane of arrogance exists
And allowing one’s self to be cured
By the person with the most perfect sight.