There are two ways of seeing things. Through sight and insight.

Through our eyes, we judge things and people by what we see externally.  But seeing is short sighted. We only can see what is happening right now in front of our eyes.

Insight on the other hand is the mind’s sight. With insight, you see things or people beyond and beneath what you see with your eyes. You may have experienced that when you do not look at a person, but feel their presence or voice, you can learn more about them. You may also find that you respond differently to people or situations when you depend on insight rather than sight; and that you have less bias perhaps, like seeing with naked eyes.

Insight can affect our judgment more profoundly than mere sight does. No doubt.

Interestingly, the Chinese characters on the left denote sight (top) and insight (bottom). The top character literally means an eye (upper part) and a person (lower part), meaning sight of a person or a person seeing. The bottom character consists of a hand (upper part) and eye (lower part), meaning seeing with your hand above your eye, noting a more intense look than mere seeing. Seeing with insight obviously requires more effort than just sight with the eyes.

My personal interpretation of the insight character is “seeing with the hand”, like a blind man trying to figure out what is in front of him by touch. It requires tremendous concentration and tactile openness to absorb information about a person or object just by feel.

In real life, insight plays a very important role in making the right choices and solving problems. But how can we attain it?

Temporally speaking, insight is seeing far beyond what happens now. A kind of an Omni-sight, attained by the heart, through which you can see the past, present, and even future. With insight, you can foresee what will happen in your relationships and career. Unlike the eyes with which you see the outside, the heart can feel and see the inside of a person or situation.

To defy the limits of sight and develop your inner eyes, just close your eyes for a moment, and listen to what you see.