Developmental Windows<\/b><\/p>\n
In his brilliant new book, Catching the Light, quantum physicist Arthur Zajoc writes of what he describes as the \u201centwined history of light and mind\u201d (correctly described by one admirer as the \u201ctwo ultimate metaphors of the human spirit\u201d). For our purposes, his initial chapter is most helpful.<\/p>\n
From both the animal and human studies, we know there are critical developmental \u201cwindows\u201d in the first years of life. Sensory and motor skills are formed, and if this early opportunity is lost, trying to play catch up is hugely frustrating and mostly unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
Prof. Zajoc writes of studies which investigated recovery from congenital blindness. Thanks to cornea transplants, people who had been blind from birth would suddenly have functional use of their eyes. Nevertheless, success was rare. Referring to one young boy, \u201cthe world does not appear to the patient as filled with the gifts of intelligible light, color, and shape upon awakening from surgery,\u201d Zajoc observes. Light and eyes were not enough to grant the patient sight. \u201cThe light of day beckoned, but no light of mind replied within the boy\u2019s anxious, open eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zajoc quotes from a study by a Dr. Moreau who observed that while surgery gave the patient the \u201cpower to see,\u201d \u201cthe employment of this power, which as a whole constitutes the act of seeing, still has to be acquired from the beginning.\u201d Dr. Moreau concludes, \u201cTo give back sight to a congenitally blind person is more the work of an educator than of a surgeon.\u201d To which Zajoc adds, \u201cThe sober truth remains that vision requires far more than a functioning physical organ. Without an inner light, without a formative visual imagination, we are blind,\u201d he explains. That \u201cinner light\u201d\u2014the light of the mind\u2014\u201dmust flow into and marry with the light of nature to bring forth a world.\u201d<\/p>\n
National Right to Life News, March 30, 1993, p. 22<\/p>\n
Visibility Zero<\/b><\/p>\n
On November 30, 1991 fierce winds from a freakish dust storm triggered a massive freeway pileup along Interstate 5 near Coalinga, California. At least 14 people died and dozens more were injured as topsoil whipped by 50 mile-per-hour winds reduced visibility to zero. The afternoon holocaust left a three-mile trail of twisted and burning vehicles, some stacked on top of one another 100 yards off the side of the freeway. Unable to see their way, dozens of motorists drove blindly ahead into disaster.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, August 16, 1992<\/p>\n
Color Blind<\/b><\/p>\n
The famous agnostic Thomas Huxley was once lovingly confronted by a very sincere Christian. This believer stressed to Huxley that he was not in any way impugning Huxley\u2019s sincerity. Nevertheless, might it not be possible that mentally the great scientist was color blind? That is, some people cannot see traces of green where other people cannot help but see it. Could it be that this was Huxley\u2019s problem\u2014that he was simply blind to truth that was quite evident to others? Huxley, being a man of integrity, admitted that this was possible, and added that if it were, he himself, of course, could not know or recognize it.<\/p>\n
Interpreter\u2019s Bible, Vol 8, p. 708<\/p>\n
The Color of Colors<\/b><\/p>\n
For 51 years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn\u2019t see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see. A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had sight. He found it overwhelming. \u201cI never would have dreamed that yellow is so\u2026yellow,\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cI don\u2019t have the words. I am amazed by yellow. But red is my favorite color. I just can\u2019t believe red. I can see the shape of the moon\u2014and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail. And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is.\u201d<\/p>\n
God Came Near, Max Lucado, Multnomah Press, 1987, p. 13<\/p>\n
Stalin<\/b><\/p>\n
At the very time Stalin was liquidating millions, the Rev. Hewlett Johnson of Canterbury spoke of him as bringing in the kingdom of Christ.<\/p>\n
Paul Johnson, \u201cModern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties\u201d (Harper and Row, 1983).<\/p>\n
Titanic<\/b><\/p>\n
The captain of the Titanic refused to believe the ship was in trouble till water was ankle deep in the mail room. Only then was it apparent the multi-layered hull had been pierced and the unsinkable ship was going to sink. Ships that could have arrived before the great ocean liner went down weren\u2019t summoned until it was too late.<\/p>\n
Leadership, Vol X, #3 (Summer, 1989), p. 27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Developmental Windows In his brilliant new book, Catching the Light, quantum physicist Arthur Zajoc writes of what he describes as the \u201centwined history of light and mind\u201d (correctly described by one admirer as the \u201ctwo ultimate metaphors of the human spirit\u201d). For our purposes, his initial chapter is most helpful. From both the animal and … Continue reading “Blindness”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}