22/03/2021

Good morning.

To ‘look’, to ‘see’ and to ‘gaze’ at something all have subtly different connotations. To ‘gaze’ is to rest one’s eyes on an object with an intensity that ‘looking’ doesn’t quite capture. The notion of the gaze has been theorised in various ways. The gaze may imply an unhealthy power dynamic between the gazer and the gazed upon. Or it may simply refer to the steady and deliberate action of the eyes and the mind which reaches out towards what’s before them.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is most famous now, perhaps, for his children’s tale The Little Prince. But in his book about the early days of aviation, Airman’s Odyssey, he writes about love in terms of mutual gazing. Here he asserts that “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” By lifting the gaze from the object of love to a shared horizon, Saint-Exupéry shifts what could be a closed, contained, oppressive connection to one which is mutually purposeful and open to a shared future. The context is romantic love, but the shared outward gaze is a strong metaphor for relationships of different sorts. The famously small man in the New Testament, Zacchaeus, climbed the tree because he wanted to see Jesus. Jesus in the story looks up and sees him, and that moment of visual connection ultimately leads to a new and outward-looking way of life for Zacchaeus. A change of perspective which affects the whole way he leads his life, begun with a gaze.

Loving God, lift our eyes to gaze on that which is true and noble and right, and to seek out those who share our vision. Amen.