| The iconography of the Hindu culture and religion can | | | | as four-dimensional-to being able to discern the fourth |
| be pretty bizarre and terrifying. Having grown up in | | | | dimension, i.e. time-to be able to view the space-time |
| India, I have found parts of it to be downright confusing, | | | | continuum as a continuum. |
| personally. Take, for example, the concept of the "third | | | | Basically, it seems to me to refer to foresight and |
| eye." In Hinduism, supposedly, the "third eye" is | | | | insight-not necessarily to clairvoyance but, rather, to the |
| considered to be a symbol of clairvoyance, | | | | ability to see through and beyond the illusory surfaces |
| enlightenment or a higher level of consciousness or | | | | of the world-to see beyond superficiality-and to discern |
| awareness. In the Vedic Indian tradition, ascetics were | | | | hidden trends and deeper meaning. So maybe we're |
| supposed to spend years of solitude in the wilderness | | | | not talking about something as esoteric as |
| meditating in silence, until they achieved this so-called | | | | clairvoyance or mysticism so much as a heightened |
| "heightened consciousness" or "heightened | | | | ability for interpretive, deductive reasoning-to be able to |
| awareness." In fact, some scholars read this as | | | | discern clues and patterns in the world around us and, |
| referring to the "mind-expanding" or "mind-altering" | | | | thereby, to extrapolate into the future and see beyond |
| effect of hallucinogens and narcotics such as soma, | | | | the immediacy of present experience (which is |
| whose use is referred to in the Hindu text, the Rig | | | | inherently illusory and transient). |
| Veda. | | | | In A. Conan Doyle's novel A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock |
| In the Hindu tradition, as a matter of fact, many | | | | Holmes is described as having an almost intuitive ability |
| devoted Hindus wear a mark on the forehead called a | | | | to arrive instantaneously at deductions based on the |
| tilak to symbolize the "third eye"-and this is especially | | | | evidence presented to him-viewing a set of clues |
| true of weatherbeaten Hindu ascetics, who wear an | | | | holistically and almost instantaneously arriving at a |
| especially pronounced tilak on the forehead. Here is an | | | | conclusion. His abilities are described as being almost |
| image of actor Harrison Ford wearing a tilak on his | | | | clairvoyant or supernatural to the casual observer. In |
| forehead in the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple | | | | one sequence in the novel, Dr. Watson reads a |
| of Doom, a film which, incidentally, distorts Indian culture | | | | newspaper article written, unknown to him, by Sherlock |
| to the point of caricaturing, parodying and demonizing it | | | | Holmes: |
| pretty severely. | | | | The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a |
| Now these interpretations of the concept of the "third | | | | twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a |
| eye" may well be true-I don't consider myself to be a | | | | man's inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was |
| scholar of Sanskrit texts or an expert on the Hindu | | | | an impossibility in the case of one trained to |
| tradition. I guess my understanding of the culture and | | | | observation and analysis. His conclusions were as |
| tradition of my homeland is, in that sense, pretty limited | | | | infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling |
| and superficial. Having been educated primarily in the | | | | would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they |
| western tradition, I guess my thinking is far more | | | | learned the processes by which he had arrived at |
| pragmatic. I personally see that as a good thing in | | | | them they might well consider him as a necromancer. |
| some ways because it enables me to view the | | | | "From a drop of water," said the writer, "a logician |
| iconography of the culture with a more holistic, | | | | could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara |
| dispassionate eye rather than get lost in its symbolism, | | | | without having seen or heard of one or the other. So |
| which is only too easy to do. This can lead to | | | | all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known |
| confusion and misinterpretation and even, ultimately, to | | | | whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all |
| confused hostility towards the culture and tradition. | | | | other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is |
| So thinking about it pragmatically, what does the | | | | one which can only be acquired by long and patient |
| iconography of the "third eye" refer to? I was | | | | study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to |
| reflecting on this concept recently, along with the | | | | attain the highest possible perfection in it. |
| concept of the illusory and transient nature of reality as | | | | In the Rudolph Valentino film, The Young Rajah, in a |
| described in the epic poem, the Mahabharata, with an | | | | dramatization of the battle of Kurukshetra, the film |
| eye towards demythologizing and clarifying these | | | | depicts Krishna applying a mark on Arjuna's forehead, |
| ideas so as to try to get to the core of what they | | | | which supposedly gives Arjuna the power of "second |
| represent. | | | | sight." This power is carried down to his descendant, |
| Then it occurred to me that in his epic poem, the | | | | Amos Judd (Valentino's character), who carries a |
| Odyssey, Homer relates a sequence wherein | | | | birthmark on his forehead and possesses the uncanny |
| Odysseus (or Ulysses, in Latin) lands upon an island in | | | | ability to see into the future-to foresee events. This |
| the course of his voyages and is taken hostage, along | | | | ties in neatly with Hindu tradition-the mark or "tilak" on |
| with many of his men, by a gigantic cannibalistic | | | | the forehead worn by Hindus as a symbol or iconic |
| Cyclops named Polyphemus. They are only able to | | | | representation of the mysterious "third eye." |
| escape with their lives secretly by blinding the | | | | But far from the esoteric, mystical connotations of this |
| one-eyed creature-which is to say, rendering the | | | | iconography, I think it is far more valuable and |
| creature completely blind, whereas previously, its vision | | | | informative to think of this as representing simple |
| was already pretty limited, as it had only one eye. | | | | foresight-being a visionary thinker-being able to see |
| So it got me thinking-what was Homer talking about | | | | beyond surfaces and superficiality and discern hidden |
| here, in the metaphorical language of mythology? | | | | meaning from clues through interpretive, deductive |
| What does it mean to have only one eye as opposed | | | | reasoning. I think it makes much more sense, from a |
| to two eyes? The answer is pretty obvious when you | | | | purely pragmatic standpoint, to interpret this |
| think about it-if you have only one eye, you have no | | | | iconography as such, especially in the context of the |
| depth perception. You see the world as flat and | | | | epic poem, the Mahabharata. Perhaps if more people |
| two-dimensional. We have depth perception because | | | | in our world had foresight and the ability to see beyond |
| we have stereoscopic vision-two eyes. It is the | | | | surfaces and the immediate present, our world might |
| difference between watching a movie on a flat screen | | | | be a happier place to live in and we might be wiser as |
| and watching the same movie in 3D-a huge difference. | | | | individuals and collectively. |
| So, with no eyes, we are completely blind and cannot | | | | Perhaps this ability could be developed through training |
| see the world at all. With one eye, we see the world | | | | and exercise until it achieved the level of clarity and |
| as two-dimensional. With a second eye, we can | | | | sophistication demonstrated by Sherlock Holmes in the |
| perceive three dimensions-we have depth perception. | | | | literary works by Conan Doyle-approaching a level |
| So what about the metaphorical, figurative "third eye" | | | | that, to the untutored eye, might appear to be mystical |
| of Hindu mythology? If we go strictly by the logic of | | | | clairvoyance. |
| progression, it must mean being able to see the world | | | | |