Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

EYES, TWO, SUPERIOR AND INFERIOR

Symbols of the Higher Self and the lower self; or the upward- and downward-looking faculties of perception in the soul.

"Unless the bountiful, superior Eye were to look down upon and bathe the inferior eye, the universe could not exist even a single moment." - Kabbalah, "The Greater Holy Assembly," Ch. IX.

"The two eyes of the soul of man cannot both perform their work at once: but if the soul shall see with the right eye into eternity, then the left eye must close itself and refrain from working, and be as though it were dead. For if the left eye be fulfilling its office toward outward things; that is, holding converse with time and the creatures; then must the right eye be hindred in its working; that is, in its contemplation. Therefore whosoever will have the one must let the other go; for 'no man can serve two masters.'" - Theologia Germanica, Ch. VII.

The superior eye is the faculty of spiritual perception, the vision of the Higher Self which looks upward and inward toward the eternal. The inferior eye is the faculty of outward perception, occupied with temporal things and the world of forms. Only one can dominate consciousness at a time: when the soul turns toward the Eternal, the outward-looking eye must fall silent; when it is absorbed in the temporal, the higher vision is obscured. The two eyes thus represent the dual orientation of the soul, and the necessity of choosing which master it serves.

See Also

HIGHER AND LOWER
MIMER