The eye represents the action of looking deep into your self, your soul with rigorous honesty. Not at others. But always looking inward. This is a very painful and challenging thing to do because it demands us to be fully present in every moment and every action. It demands our accountability and responsibility in ways that may not make sense. When you look inside, as i suggest, it will most likely take you to two places: sex and violence. That is where most people hide their secrets and harbor the dark energies of shame, desire, guilt, and fear. It will bring you face to face with sexual fantasies and sexual things you have done or desired. The violent side will bring you face-to-face with any abuse - emotional, physical, verbal or sexual that you have experienced either as giver or receiver. This level of self-honesty will bring you right up against your feelings of shame, rage, sadness and fear. Things we so often want to avoid feeling that drive us to act in delusive, harmful ways. This process allows you to go into yourself and come to terms with the deepest parts of your soul.

These are not vacuous or New Age type, ideas or words. The energy of being heard is an age-old spiritual truth. It is prevalent when one goes to confession, therapy or speaking to God. You must find your conciliator, that person who can listen to you with unconditional love and non-judgment. Listen. Not tell you what they think of what you are sharing but just listening. In that process you are doing the work of healing. It's a spiritual sit-up. Even this part is a humbling process because the people who you want to be that person, like a spouse or a parent or a sibling or best friend... those people who you think should love you unconditionally are often not that person. They so often think they know you, when in fact they may know very little about who you really are. Many people use the word "unconditional" but their actions do not reflect the sentiment. There are no "buts" to unconditional love.

The process itself is important. Probably the most important thing. Remember, it's the journey that matters rather than the destination. It is about moving from logic to spirit, two very different approaches. Like a boxer who leads with his left or his right, this process teaches how to lead with spirit, with heart, with humbleness... not logic.

Learning who to go to for that kind of support is not an easy thing to do. It strips us of our egos. It forces us to face reality in many different ways. And it is precisely in the process of "doing," that we are growing spiritually. We have to go to the right people who will listen to us, hear us and in that allow us to go through our own process of exploration and healing and pain and growth. One can't love or forgive others, unconditionally, if they haven't thoroughly come to grips with themselves first.

Once you have gone through the first two steps, the eye and the heart, the next symbol is the hand.

Your hand must always be present in the world with honesty about self and ready to help whoever is in need that crosses your path. The hand represents the action of the work. Act your principles. By doing this process, you plant seeds of HOPE in others because someone else is suffering quietly with things you have just shared and because of your willingness to be honest they reap the gift of connection. Through your own willingness to be present with honesty about who you are, where you've been, what you fantasize about, what you've done, what's been done to you, what you desire you Help Other People Evolve or in other words you plant seeds of HOPE.

The important thing to remember, from a spiritual perspective, is that it's not what we do that is the focus but the releasing of the shame and guilt, the dark energies that we harbor inside ourselves. It is the harboring of these energies that so often hampers our ability to be present in a healthy way. It takes an awful lot of energy to hide things. It takes courage and strength to be honest. The emotional and spiritual gifts, though are unparalleled.

It's kind of like seeing the glass half full or half empty. We can become the vibration level of love. After all, all we are is matter resulting from energy. Heat moving at a certain frequency. So why not vibrate at the energy of love or peace or kindness or acceptance.