The Third Eye

Jimmy walked out the door with Anne. "Have you been to these before?" he asked. "Once, last term, but it was all women, then. You are privileged to have been invited." "I see you ended up with a red dot on your forehead." Anne laughed. "Yes, the third eye. Do you know about the third eye?" "I know I see most women with one of those on her forehead." "Yes, it is basically cosmetic, now, I think, but it has not always been that way. What did my student say? The third eye is there so you will see it and look at it when you look at someone’s face. Instead of seeing a pretty face, or whatever, you will see the third eye and think of the wisdom or the character or essence of the person. Something like that." "Symbolic of India, perhaps." "What do you mean?" "When you look at India, it is very depressing if you see things the way they really are. The trash, the poverty, the failure of things to work. Yet, there is a beauty of the people, and what they stand for. Perhaps that is what one should look at." "Yes, perhaps so." Anne looked at him strangely. "You are really coming out, aren't you." "What about Siva's third eye? When it opens does that not signify destruction of some sort." "Yes. I think it implies another cycle of the universe. But, apart from the Hindu cosmology, the idea of destruction and rebirth is not so radical. You know the Egyptian legend of the phoenix. I think the Chinese had something similar. Don't Christians use similar ideas?" "Do they? I've never heard of such a thing." "Certainly you have, but it's not exactly the same. You’ve heard of born again Christians. The idea is that the old person is destroyed to be reborn into a new life. The idea of death to the old and rebirth into something new is an old thought, and very realistic. Have you not experienced something similar?"