{"id":117,"date":"2024-05-23T19:30:29","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T19:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/2024\/05\/23\/a-vak-ember-peldaja\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:42:44","slug":"the-parable-of-the-blind-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/2024\/05\/23\/a-vak-ember-peldaja\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Born Blind: Learning to See"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the stories of the Bible, we can recognise spiritual teachings that speak to us in our everyday lives, regardless of our religious affiliation. I also interpret the encounter between Jesus and the man born blind as a story of spiritual awakening: how does a person progress from receiving guidance, through learning, to a complete inner transformation?<\/p>\n

Human stories bring the teaching to life. It is easier for us to put ourselves in another person\u2019s shoes, and in this way we can grasp the message more deeply. However, the fact that a teaching is conveyed through human characters does not in itself mean that we must interpret every character as a real historical figure.<\/p>\n

In the table below, I have set out the narrative of the Gospel of John alongside my own spiritual interpretation. The left-hand column shows the John 9:1\u201312<\/a> A concise summary of the content, based on the Hungarian Bible Society\u2019s new translation of the Bible. In this interpretation, I use blindness as a symbol of a state of unawareness; I do not infer a person\u2019s spiritual condition from a physical visual impairment.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The sequence of events in the biblical story<\/strong><\/th>\nMy intellectual and spiritual interpretation<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
As Jesus went on his way, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. (John 9:1<\/a>)<\/td>\nJesus meets a man who has not yet awakened spiritually. For me, the story begins here: the man cannot yet see what the teaching will later open his eyes to.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The disciples ask who has sinned: the man or his parents, that he was born blind. (John 9:2<\/a>)<\/td>\nIn this matter, I recognise the concept of karma and rebirth: the possibility of a task linked to another life or to family ties. For me, this goes beyond a way of thinking confined to a single earthly life. Applying this to our own spiritual lives, we might ask: is there any action on our part for which we must now take responsibility, and which requires atonement? This is an internal application of the story, not an explanation for the cause of blindness present from birth. Individual responsibility remains essential nonetheless: we cannot do just anything to ourselves, to others or to our environment without taking responsibility.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jesus replies that neither the man nor his parents have sinned; this has happened so that God\u2019s works may be made manifest in him. (John 9:3<\/a>)<\/td>\nFor me, the answer directs our attention towards learning and spiritual awakening. We change and grow through continuous learning, and we receive the right guidance from God. If we connect with Him in spirit, we can achieve spiritual awakening through the teachings we receive. For me, this is the only pure path: guidance received through a connection with God. Among the many different spiritual traditions, I therefore seek the one that helps foster this connection. As we learn and change, we also have an impact on our surroundings.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jesus says that whilst it is still day, those who sent him must carry out his works; night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9:4<\/a>)<\/td>\nWhilst we still have the opportunity to do so, and whilst we receive the help we need, let us do everything in our power to achieve our spiritual awakening. I also understand this statement to mean that there may come a time when we no longer have the same opportunity for spiritual growth and transformation. That is why it is important to live by the guidance we are receiving now.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jesus declares that whilst he is in the world, he is the light of the world. (John 9:5<\/a>)<\/td>\nAs long as we remember Jesus and God, and believe in them and in their teachings, this connection will guide us. For me, this light is the guidance that helps us recognise and follow our spiritual path.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud with his saliva, and puts it on the eyes of the man born blind. (John 9:6<\/a>)<\/td>\nIn this scene, Jesus is teaching the man. I interpret the saliva here symbolically as relating to the word\u2014that is, the teaching\u2014coming from Jesus. To me, the image of living water expresses the purifying, life-giving effect of this teaching. The scene thus illustrates how the teaching that is received helps to open up spiritual vision.
This is linked to Jesus\u201e words about living water: \u201dIf anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink!\u2019 (John 7:37\u201338<\/a>); and the water one receives from him becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life within a person. (John 4:14<\/a>) Holy water also reminds me that God\u2019s teachings bless us and help us to become more self-aware.
I would like to introduce another line of interpretation regarding the image of mud. In my reading of \u00c1gnes \u00c9va Golenya\u2019s book *The Children of the Blue Blood I: Imhotep, Priest of the Blue*, the term \u201eSar\u201d used by the ancient Hungarian tribes is linked to gold, that is, to quality. Following this association, for me, mud also evokes the image of teachings as precious as gold: the knowledge that opens a person\u2019s spiritual vision.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jesus sends the man to the Pool of Siloam to wash; the name means \u2018sent\u2019. The man goes, washes, and returns able to see. (John 9:7<\/a>)<\/td>\nA person follows Jesus\u2019 guidance, assimilates the knowledge they have received, and undergoes a complete spiritual transformation. Open eyes signify that they have awakened: they can now see and understand what was previously hidden from them.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Some of the neighbours and those who knew the former beggar recognise him, whilst others think he merely resembles him. He insists that it is the same man. (John 9:8\u20139<\/a>)<\/td>\nThose around him notice that he has changed; he speaks differently. He, however, explains that he is the same person, just seeing things from a different perspective. This inner transformation becomes apparent in both his speech and his demeanour.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
They ask him how he came to see the light. (John 9:10<\/a>)<\/td>\nThe way I see it, they are asking: from whom and what did he learn? What teaching opened his eyes to what he had not seen before?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
He explains what Jesus did, what he asked him to do, and how he followed his instructions. (John 9:11<\/a>)<\/td>\nHe describes the learning process that led to his spiritual transformation and awakening. Not only does he name his teacher, but he also explains how he embraced and followed the teachings.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
They ask him where Jesus is. He replies that he does not know. (John 9:12<\/a>)<\/td>\nWe must seek out Jesus and his teachings. Everyone must find their own path individually: another person\u2019s experience may point the way, but it cannot carry out the personal search for us. The same teaching may reach several people, but no two people are alike, so the way in which it is received and lived out is also individual.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

A lesson worth its weight in gold<\/h2>\n

For me, the key insight at the end of the story is that Jesus brought us that invaluable, high-quality wisdom which has helped people for a long time, and which still helps us today to awaken to our true selves. Embracing, mastering and following these teachings leads to a transformation, after which the same person walks their own path with open eyes.<\/p>\n

With love,
Georgina
Soul4you<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the stories of the Bible, we can recognise spiritual teachings that speak to us in our everyday lives, regardless of our religious affiliation.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s4y_en_tartalom":"

Biblical stories can speak to our everyday lives, including when we approach them from different religious backgrounds or none. I also read Jesus' encounter with the man born blind as an inward journey: receiving guidance, living what has been received, and discovering a different way of seeing.<\/p>\n\n

This symbolic approach does not require me to settle the historical status of every person in the narrative. It simply makes room to ask what the story can illuminate within us, without replacing its place in Christian faith.<\/p>\n\n

Below, I keep the Gospel's account and my interpretation separate. Whenever I use sight as an image of spiritual recognition, I am not suggesting that a person's physical eyesight tells us anything about their spiritual life or worth.<\/p>\n\n

The encounter<\/h2>\n\n

A person is seen<\/h3>\n\n

Jesus notices a man who has been blind from birth. (John 9:1<\/a>) Before the questions and explanations, there is an encounter.<\/p>\n\n

In my inward reading, this becomes the meeting with a person who has not yet recognised something essential about themselves. The beginning is not their failure, but the possibility of being met where they are.<\/p>\n\n

The search for someone to blame<\/h3>\n\n

The disciples ask whether the man or his parents sinned, causing him to be born blind. (John 9:2<\/a>) Their question reaches backwards in search of a cause.<\/p>\n\n

For me, it also brings to mind questions people ask about other lives and family connections. But an association arising in my reading is not evidence that this verse teaches reincarnation, and it certainly does not establish disability as punishment.<\/p>\n\n

In my own metaphysical view, other lives are not simply earlier lives arranged in a sequence of offences and repayments. I understand them as simultaneous; that is the framework I bring to the question, not a doctrine I claim to have found in John's wording.<\/p>\n\n

There is another question we can responsibly ask about our own lives: have I done something for which I need to take responsibility or make amends? That is a question about my actions, not a diagnosis of why another person was born with a disability.<\/p>\n\n

The question changes direction<\/h3>\n\n

Jesus rejects the proposed connection between this man's blindness and his or his parents' sin, then speaks of God's works being revealed in him. (John 9:3<\/a>) The movement of the answer takes us away from assigning blame.<\/p>\n\n

I read it as an invitation to turn towards what can now become possible. In my faith, guidance received through our connection with God is the ground of spiritual awakening.<\/p>\n\n

This is the connection I seek when I encounter a teaching. I am not grading other people's faith by its similarity to mine; I am asking whether what I receive helps me live more truthfully from the Source.<\/p>\n\n

Nor do I read this man's story as permission to tell someone else that their suffering exists in order to deliver a lesson. The dignity of the person before us comes before our explanation.<\/p>\n\n

Receiving and following guidance<\/h2>\n\n

Working while it is day<\/h3>\n\n

Jesus speaks of doing the works of the one who sent him while it is day, before night comes. (John 9:4<\/a>) In the Gospel, this concerns his mission.<\/p>\n\n

In my own application, it asks whether I am willing to respond to the guidance available to me now. A conversation, a recognition or an opportunity for change need not be postponed indefinitely simply because I would prefer a more convenient beginning.<\/p>\n\n

I do not hear this as a countdown designed to frighten us into awakening. I hear an invitation to be present to the life and possibilities we have.<\/p>\n\n

The light of the world<\/h3>\n\n

Jesus describes himself as the light of the world while he is in the world. (John 9:5<\/a>) That statement has its own place in John's portrayal of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n

For me, light here also becomes an image of guidance: not something that makes me superior to another person, but something through which I can recognise my direction. Remembering Jesus and the teaching can change how I meet what is in front of me.<\/p>\n\n

Mud on the eyes<\/h3>\n\n

Jesus makes mud with saliva and places it on the man's eyes. (John 9:6<\/a>) The action is striking because it does not fit an expectation that spiritual change must arrive in an abstract or purely verbal form.<\/p>\n\n

In my symbolic reading, I associate what comes from Jesus' mouth with the word he brings, and the mud with teaching that takes form within earthly life. These are my associations, not translations of the Greek words or explanations supplied by the verse.<\/p>\n\n

John elsewhere uses the image of living water: Jesus invites the thirsty to come to him, and speaks of water becoming a spring within a person. (John 7:37\u201338<\/a>; John 4:14<\/a>) I hear a resonance between those passages and the life-giving quality of teaching received inwardly.<\/p>\n\n

Holy water also evokes that relationship for me. This is a personal devotional association, not a claim that its meaning in every Christian tradition is identical to my reading.<\/p>\n\n

Another thread comes through my reading of Purisaca Golenya \u00c1gnes's A K\u00e9k V\u00e9r Gyermekei, whose first volume is Imhotep, a K\u00e9ks\u00e9g Papja. (The author's book information<\/a>) In that reading, I have connected the Hungarian word s\u00e1r, meaning mud, with the image of gold and a teaching of enduring quality.<\/p>\n\n

I use that connection as a Hungarian-language association. I do not offer it as an established account of ancient Hungarian tribal history, or as the meaning of the word for mud in John's Gospel.<\/p>\n\n

What matters to my interpretation is the image it leaves: something that looks ordinary can carry a teaching of great value. The outward material need not announce what will open within us.<\/p>\n\n

Going to the pool<\/h3>\n\n

Jesus sends the man to wash in the pool of Siloam, which the Gospel explains as meaning \u201cSent\u201d; the man goes, washes and returns able to see. (John 9:7<\/a>) Receiving the instruction is followed by an action.<\/p>\n\n

For me, this is where teaching becomes lived knowledge. We do not simply admire the possibility of change; we begin to participate in it.<\/p>\n\n

The opened eyes become my image of recognition. Something that had been hidden is now part of the person's direct experience.<\/p>\n\n

The same person, a changed relationship with life<\/h2>\n\n

Recognition and uncertainty<\/h3>\n\n

The neighbours debate whether this is the man they knew as a beggar, while he insists that he is the same person. (John 9:8\u20139<\/a>) The Gospel does not say he has become someone else.<\/p>\n\n

In my inward reading, that matters. Transformation need not erase our personhood; we may remain recognisably ourselves while no longer relating to life in the same way.<\/p>\n\n

I imagine how such a change might become audible in a person's speech or visible in their presence. That is my application to everyday life, rather than an additional detail from the narrative.<\/p>\n\n

How did it happen?<\/h3>\n\n

The people ask how his eyes were opened, and he recounts what Jesus did and how he followed the instruction to wash. (John 9:10\u201311<\/a>) He describes an encounter and a response.<\/p>\n\n

I hear a practical question here: what have I received, and how have I lived it? Naming a teacher is not the same as describing how a teaching has become part of me.<\/p>\n\n

What he does not know<\/h3>\n\n

When asked where Jesus is, the man answers that he does not know. (John 9:12<\/a>) His changed experience has not made him all-knowing.<\/p>\n\n

For me, this is an important place to end this part of the reading. A genuine recognition does not require us to pretend we have answers to everything.<\/p>\n\n

Another person's experience may help us find a direction. It cannot replace our own relationship with the teaching, our own discernment or our own path.<\/p>\n\n

Teaching of enduring value<\/h3>\n\n

What remains with me is the movement from receiving to living. Guidance is offered, the person responds, and the same person returns with a possibility that was not available to them before.<\/p>\n\n

This is the quality I mean when I speak of a teaching as precious as gold. Not a claim to possess hidden historical knowledge, but the recognition of something that continues to help us awaken to ourselves.<\/p>\n\n

For me, Jesus' teaching carries that enduring value. The question is how I receive it, and whether I allow it to become more than something I have heard.<\/p>\n\n

With love,
Georgina
Soul4you<\/p>","_s4y_en_cim":"The Man Born Blind: Learning to See","_s4y_en_kivonat":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritualis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428,"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}