Seeing with the Eyes of Love
Seeing with the Eyes of Love by Eknath Easwaran is a practical commentary on "The Imitation of Christ", a Christian devotional classic of the early 15th century, believed to be the work of Thomas à Kempis. Easwaran's commentary emphasizes how to translate the "Imitation" into daily living with the aid of spiritual practices. "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" was originally published in the United States in 1991. A German translation was published in 1993, and a second U.S. edition was published in 1996. The book has been reviewed in newspapers, magazines, and  websites. Background. At the time "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" was published in 1991, Eknath Easwaran had served as a spiritual teacher in California since the 1960s. Easwaran taught a nonsectarian method of meditation used by spiritual aspirants within many major religious traditions, both eastern and western. Easwaran's writings include commentaries on both eastern and western scriptures and spiritual figures. Raised in South India as a Hindu, Easwaran drew inspiration also from the Christian tradition, explaining that "the message of Christ first reached me" through the lives of individual Christians, such as his college headmaster, Father John Palakaran . For spiritual inspiration, Easwaran reported that Content. "The Imitation of Christ" is a devotional book written in Latin ca.1418-1427, and believed to be the work of Thomas à Kempis. In "Seeing with the Eyes of Love", Easwaran comments on a 30-verse section of "The Imitation of Christ", a section "traditionally called 'The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love,'" (Book 3, chapter 5). To Easwaran, these verses "distill the essential teachings not just of Thomas a Kempis, but of Christianity itself." Easwaran's 12 chapters discuss these verses in order, using them as points of departure for reflections on spiritual  living and its fruits. Each chapter title is drawn from an "Imitation" verse "(see table, right)". Easwaran' introduction explains that he regards the "Imitation" is "an entirely practical manual for sincere spiritual aspirants," The section discussed in "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" is a "soaring hymn of love" that appears in Book III, when the "Imitation", now an "indisputably mystical treatise," has become a dialogue between God and the spiritual aspirant, with whom "each of us, clearly, is meant to identify." Easwaran's 20-page introduction also briefly summarizes his eight-point program of Passage Meditation. Each chapter in  the main commentary offers numerous ideas and metaphors. For example, starting in the first chapter, Easwaran comments on how a person's turn to the spiritual life can be much like falling in love: "just as great worldly romances often begin with a single, telling glance, so, very often does this one... deep within you something stirs...". Later, he draws on the metaphor of travel: "Getting ready for this inward journey is a lot like preparing for a trip... You may start by reading about it... then slowly you begin to get serious... you know you may have to carry  your own bags, so you try to keep them light and portable..." As the commentary proceeds in 12 chapters through the 30 "Imitation" verses, Easwaran often highlights what he regards as important implications of each verse. For example, with regard to the second verse in Chapter 5 (""Love desires to be aloft"..."), Easwaran writes Similarly, in Chapter 12, Easwaran addresses patience, writing that "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" concludes with a 22-page afterword by Carol Flinders that profiles the "Imitation's" presumed author, Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380 – 1471), and the times in which he lived. She states  that the "Imitation" "is not so much the work of a single man as it is of an entire spiritual movement," the Brethren of the Common Life. Besides describing what is known about Thomas himself, the "Afterword" also profiles the founder of the Brethren, Geert Groote, as well as his chief disciple and successor, Florent Radewijns, who served as a mentor to Thomas. The "Afterword" also sketches the "Imitation"'s influence on figures ranging from Therese of Lisieux (who memorized it) to Ignatius of Loyola to John Woolman to Dag Hammarskjöld, who carried it with him on the flight that  ended in his death. An 8-page index is contained in the 1996 edition. Reception. Reviews have appeared in the "Prairie Messenger", "BC Catholic", "The Living Church", "Monastic Interreligious Dialogue", "The Small Press Book Review", "Brothers", and at the website "Spirituality and Practice." In "Prairie Messenger", a Roman Catholic publication, J. W. Gray stated that "Far from losing himself in mystical romanticism, Easwaran insists throughout that what one discovers within unites one with the community." Indeed, He added that "The simplicity, sincerity and compassion so clear in these reflections will convince the wavering to take up Easwaran's challenge." In  The Living Church, an Episcopalian magazine, Travis DuPriest stated that he "particularly liked [Easwaran's] introduction with practical advice on meditation, spiritual reading and spiritual association," calling "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" a "well-written book with a strong focus on the love of God." In "The B.C. Catholic", Paul Matthew St. Pierre described "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" as an "understated work" in which the author "does not second-guess Thomas a Kempis for us." But Easwaran "manages to open up the mind and spirit of Thomas a Kempis and to awaken people created in the image  and likeness of God to the possibilities of imitating Jesus." He later added that in "Seeing with the Eyes of Love", "Easwaran untangles a meditative paradox of imitative faith and observance that draws people to the actuality of Jesus Christ." A reviewer in "The Small Press Book Review" stated that "woven into [Easwaran's] commentary are biographical anecdotes, references to mystics of different religions and their writings, advice on meditating, and observations on contemporary life. The variety of the subjects provides the reader with different angles on the fertile and fulfilling life of the spirit Easwaran illuminates." A reviewer in  Monastic Interreligious Dialogue called "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" a "gem," stating that it "shows that there is much more to the ["Imitation"] than the pious rhetoric of an age of Jansenism. It centers on the basic theme of Love." In "Brothers", a Catholic monastic publication, Romeo Bonsaint stated that in addition to his reflections on the "Imitation", "Easwaran's meditations on the power of divine love provide insightful glimpses as well into the teachings on love of many other Christian mystics, among them such figures as St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, Johannes Tauler, and Mechtild of Magdeburg . These many references to spiritual writers and teachers effectively communicate the essential teaching of Christianity on personality integration and service through love." Editions. The original edition was published by in the United States in 1991 by Nilgiri Press, who republished a 2nd edition in 1996 as one volume in a series entitled "Classics of Christian Inspiration". An edition was also published in German in 1993. The US editions of "Seeing with the Eyes of Love" are: The German edition: