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Eye disease may be a form of mini-death, telling you about a deeper, more spiritually guided form of seeing.

If you have been diagnosed with an eye disease, don’t despair. In addition to your eye doctor’s accurate diagnosis and recommended treatments, a more far-reaching approach to eye disease is possible.

Your physical eye, which I call the “camera eye,” is only one part of the seeing team. There is also the “brain eye,” which deals with brain processes of what the physical eye sees. Better-known is the “mind’s eye,” a deeper part of vision because it deals with your feelings and emotions. When we add all these eyes together, we access what can best be described as “conscious seeing.”

Where I come from in Africa, traditional healers recognize that the eye, brain, and mind function as one system. Your physical eye brings the light of the world to your brain. As light travels further into the depths of the brain, more and more integrations occur. Through your eyes you unite thinking and feeling perceptions in the brain’s eye. By the time the same light reaches your mind’s eye, sense is made of these thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It is in the mind’s eye that you construct perceptions of your life. When you develop eye disease, one of these three eyes may not be participating as part of the team.

The message may be that eye disease is asking you to pay attention, stop what you are doing and choose a new path. Most of my patients with eye diseases need to seriously evaluate an imbalance in their way of living-denial of unhappiness, an unfulfilling career, family or relationship challenges, or an addiction to food, cigarettes, or alcohol.

Blindness as a Gift: Preparation for Deeper Seeing

When my patients reveal to me their fear of blindness, I introduce African, Tibetan, and Peruvian concepts of seeing. First, any disease can be considered a mini-death. The cells have degenerated and, in some cases, died. Is the disease a form of this mini death, telling you about a deeper, more spiritually guided form of seeing? For many of my patients this seems to be so. Eye disease is telling them to:

• slow down
• make changes
• live a healthier lifestyle
• deal with incompletion
• seek more fulfillment in daily living.
  

Perhaps it’s the same for you.

Herbs and Homeopathic Help

Certain herbal compresses and teas may help with general eye irritation, including puffiness, dryness, and pain. Try teas made with eyebright, gingko biloba, or yarrow. To make an eye compress, first steep herbs in boiling water; then soak a cotton cloth in the cooled infusion. Place on eyes for up to 20 minutes. Some herbs to try include chamomile (for burning eyes), fennel (for eye strain), echinacea (for allergic, itchy eyes), and oak bark (for inflammation).

Homeopathic remedies may also alleviate pain from eye injury, strain, and stinging. Try Arnica for injuries to the skin around the eyes. Symphytum can help heal injuries to the eyeball itself, while Ruta alleviates strain.

An Eye Disease Questionnaire

Examine the deeper message behind the eye disease you have.

Glaucoma

Do you have:

• concerns about going blind?
• pressure in your life?
• tendencies to put yourself in painful situations?
• tendencies to eat unhealthy food or drink too much coffee?
• workaholic tendencies?
• an unhappy relationship?

Macular Degeneration

• Are you missing a central theme for your life?
• Is your life slowing down?
• Do you have moments when you sense a new direction for your life?
• Are spiritual matters more important than the physical?

Corneal Conditions

• Have you misused your power?
• Do you sometimes find your ego bigger than your heart?
• Do you have a sense of not being powerful enough?
• Are there self-destructive patterns of behaviour in your life?
• Do aspects of your life get distorted out of proportion?

Retinal Detachments

• Is your perspective on life too narrow or restricted?
• Is it difficult for you to access your feelings?
• Do you live with a material focus in life?
• Do you find yourself separated from your emotions and people?
• Do you limit possibilities for yourself?
  

Cataracts

• Is your life clouded because you are too busy?
• Do you carry burdens from the past?
• Is your home full of unnecessary belongings from the past?
• Do you have a fear of letting go?
• Is your communication unclear?
• Are you able to maintain your purpose in life?
  

If you answered yes to more than half of the questions to any of the above eye conditions, then the problems may be caused by physical factors alone. Consider using these complementary treatments:

• Eat healthier food, undergo supervised fasting, and food supplementation.
• Cut back on stress-producing activities.
• Consult with a lifestyle counsellor, kinesiologist, psychotherapist, or acupuncturist.
• Exercise more in fresh air and appreciate the value of natural sunlight.
• Take frequent rest breaks when reading, working on a computer, or watching television.
  

Seeking Natural Advice

Nutrients, herbs, and homeopathy can help heal all sorts of conditions in all areas of the body, including our eyes. However, the use of complementary care for eye diseases is becoming increasingly popular. Many optometrists may still be unaware of the many benefits of natural therapies. But it’s hardly their fault-a recent survey conducted in the UK revealed that only about seven per cent of optometrists are taught nutritional strategies for eye health at medical school. Out of 176 optometrists who responded to the questionnaire, 98 per cent said they would like to learn more about nutritional strategies and supplements; 86 optometrists said they, too, would take eye health supplements if they knew more about exactly what to take.

So help your eye doctor help you: for a start, look at the following chart. Take it to your doctor and optometrist, and let them know you’re interested in developing a nutritional plan to help your eyes. Together, you can decide which nutrients will help your individual situation the most.

See table Nutrients for Eye Health

Roberto Kaplan, who resides in Vienna, Austria, is a doctor, former professor of optometry and visionary who has built a distinguished international career in teaching his method of Integrated Vision Therapy. Author of Seeing Without Glasses, 3rd ed. (Beyond Words, 2003),Conscious Seeing (Beyond Words, 2002), and The Power Behind Your Eyes (Healing Arts Press, 1995), he is one of a handful of Canadian optometrists who is board-certified in vision therapy. For more information, visit www.beyond2020vision.com or e-mail robertokap@utanet.at or victorianaturalvision@telus.net. We welcome your feedback at editorial@alive.com

Source: alive #253, November 2003