Was Blind but Now I See

 Was Blind but Now I See

 

I love the story of Jesus healing the man who was blind from birth (John 9), because of its wonderful insights into the Savior’s perfect ability to love and heal us.  As a military wife and a neuroscientist, I spend a lot ot time reading and studying about the impact of stress and trauma.  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a big deal within the military (though it’s certainly not limited to service members).  It can devastate families.  It’s also very hard to treat.  Part of the problem is in the neuroscience.  PTSD starts from appropriate and normal brain responses to stress.  But due to neuroplasticity – which is a term that lets us know the brain is constantly changing based on our experiences, the brain changes over time to strengthen pathways that are used most often - in this case, those pathways that react to stress.  Individuals with PTSD are constantly bombarded by anxious thoughts, worries, feelings of guilt and anger, and fears about potential threats.  Day after day, year after year the cellular pathways in the brain that are active during these emotional experiences are strengthened – they go from the equivalent of normally functioning roads to emotional superhighways.  It’s hard to slow down a superhighway. 
  

When Jesus healed the man blind from birth, the situation was equally gloomy.  John wrote, “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind” (John 9:32).  What makes this particular healing different from healing someone who had previously been able to see?  Again, it goes back to neuroscience.  We don’t really see with our eyes alone, we see with our brain.  Our eyes take in light and patterns from the world around us, then transform that information into electrical impulses.  These electrical impulses are sent to some very specific areas in the back of the brain that allow us to see, and make sense of what we are seeing.  While our eyes and the visual cortex of the brain are formed from birth for the task of seeing, our vision and understanding of what we see develop as we interact with our environment.  Normal vision is acquired in much the same way language is, in early infancy, when a baby’s brain is primed to develop visual skills and understanding.  That means if a child has visual  problems early in life, his or her visual abilities may be impaired.  For example, for infants born with cataracts that prevent normal sight, surgery occurs as early as possible, ideally within the first 2-3 months of age.  The longer the wait, the greater the risk the child will develop permanent visual impairment.  Another basic principle of neuroplasticity also works against them here - as time passes, if the seeing parts of the brain don’t receive input from the eyes they can be taken over by other working senses!  This is what neuroscientists like to describe as "use it or lose it". 

Applying this modern understanding of neuroanatomy, we can appreciate just how complicated was Jesus' healing of the man born blind.  The Savior anointed the man’s eyes with clay and told him to “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” We are then told that the man went and washed “and came seeing” (John 9:7).  For this miracle to occur, the Savior would have had to do more than heal his eyes, he would have had to heal his brain.  The Savior made up for a lifetime’s lack of visual input – almost instantaneously.  He restored, or completely repaired the man’s whole visual system. 

Isn’t that profound?  If he can heal the brain of the man blind from birth, There's hope for healing from the things that harm us.  It is possible for our Savior to make up for lifetimes full of weakness, sin, and even abuse or trauma.  He can heal our bodies and our brains.  He can make us whole again – from whatever ails us.

Changing the emotional superhighways in the brain that form with PTSD can be incredibly difficult.  But it is possible.  And some of the most helpful tools to treat this disorder are the most simple – mindfulness (or really any form of meditation) slow abdominal breathing; and of course, yoga. These are all things that quiet our minds, help us reduce distraction, and allow us to focus on things that are really important.  They help free us from the grip of a busy mind that likes to ruminate on past hurts and future worries.  And when our minds are still, that’s when we can more fully hear the voice of God in our lives. 

 

There’s another sweet bit of familiarity from this story… when the man was asked by the Pharisees how this miracle could have occurred, the man defended Jesus and his works; “Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes…If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:30, 33).  His genuine testimony resulted in him being cast out.  But John was able to capture his words, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

John wrote that miracles such as these “are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31).  I am grateful for the light of his gospel, which allows us clearer vision and understanding; and for his atonement – his healing power and mercy – extended to even a wretch like me.

 

 

Amazing Grace, text by John Newton, 1725-1807