NEWS

Donna Collins Article

Recently I read a reflection which used as its point of departure a quote from “The Harvest of the Quiet Eye” by Janet Stuart.

Look if you wish to reap a harvest, but look thoughtfully, patiently, watchfully, and know why you look.

The author, Imma De Steffanis, rscj, commented that “Where we fix out outward discerning gaze and how we introspectively process the object of our gaze will guide our actions towards the desired goal. If our goal is to work toward a vision of balance and right relationship in the world; to recognize the dignity of each person; to work for social evangelical justice then we must cultivate the Quiet Eye.”

It seems to me that this idea of cultivating a quiet eye is worth pondering for leaders of Sacred Heart schools. I suspect that it might be more difficult for us to develop this quiet eye in the digital age than it was for Janet Stuart’s sisters in community towards the end of the 19th century. The rapidity of change, the dramatic growth in accessibility of information and the pressure to multi-task all work against the possibility of looking patiently and thoughtfully.

I am a visual learner. Almost thirty years ago I took on a photographic project for a friend of mine who was teaching at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York. She was interested in showing her students the incredible diversity of the city in which they lived. She hoped that they would see not only the energy and beauty of their city and its people but also begin to perceive the incredible differences and understand how privileged their own lives were. For me the task afforded the opportunity to look and ponder what had previously been a bombardment of visual stimuli that left me dazed and de-energized as I traveled from Penn Station to 91st Street. The task gave me a focus. Through the lens of my camera I began to look more thoughtfully. I patiently sought out the images I wanted to capture. I was not just looking about aimlessly.

As we go through our professional lives we constantly receiving the latest theories regarding every imaginable area of child development, brain development, emotional and moral development, teacher evaluation and supervision … It never stops. It is very easy to wander aimlessly in this wash of words. However, if we have developed a quiet eye we will look at these new ideas with an end in mind. Sacred Heart education is intentional and focused on helping people develop a right relationship with God, with each other and with the world. This gives us a lens through which to look at educational theory. It will help us not become overly attached to particular ideas or equate the success of some initiative with our own success. It will help us block out the unessential and distracting elements. Janet Stuart writes “know why you look”. The Society of the Sacred Heart has an end and mission. This “end” to discover and make known the love of God, gives the religious the “why”. The philosophy of Sacred Heart education springs from this spirituality. It gives our education an intentionality. It directs the way we look at the task of education.

The development a quiet eye requires time and effort. During my first excursion with my camera in New York I was inclined to take the picture first and then think about how I would use it in a slide sequence. With experience I developed more discipline and patience. I would think about what I wanted to communicate and what image might allow me to do that. I spent more time gazing through my view finder and contemplating the object before I ever took a picture. Both mind and heart became engaged in this process. Progressively my pictures became more revealing of both my own intentions and the essence of the objects on which I had focused my gaze. For the first time I came to know something of the reality of New York and was able to share this insight.

This is the challenge for those who lead Sacred Heart institutions. Can you become the watchful, patient, thoughtful gazers who are able to share what their quiet eye has seen?

If I were to go back to New York to carry out the same exercise what might have changed? Life has a habit of constantly rearranging the pieces. Everything is in flux and it is important to go back and to look at what has become familiar. Look at the specific intention of noticing what has changed. Even if there is only minimal change in the external scene we will have changed. I know that thirty years ago I missed many things because of my own cultural blinkers. I was looking as a newly transplanted Australian. I misinterpreted visual information. I was not ready to see what was in front of me.

While in Grand Coteau, Louisiana one of the subjects I taught was photography. We were using black and white film where the shades of grey take on enormous importance. Early in the course, in an effort to help students see what they were looking at, I had them draw something using only shadows to indicate the edges of the objects. They were instructed not to draw the outlines of things. They were told not to draw what they thought they saw. Just look at the shadows. “What does this have to do with photography?” demanded one indignant girl. Everything!

What does this tell us about developing a quiet eye? Can we really see reality without looking steadily and reflectively at the shadows of our life; of our collective humanity? If we try to eliminate what is harsh, what is difficult, what makes us feel uncomfortable or challenges what we think we begin to construct a pretty but distorted picture. The resulting image is one dimensional. The texture has been removed. As educators we need to develop a broad critical vision of our world. Our quiet eye must look thoughtfully at the whole of reality including poverty, human degradation and the ugliness of war. We need to be watchful to discover whether the roots of these problems are also in ourselves.

So, as Sacred Heart educators, we need to move into the future with eyes wide open and a humility of heart which allows us to receive the truth of what we are looking at. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our gaze knowing that we are called to look at the world with the compassionate Heart of Christ.

Look if you wish to reap a harvest, but look thoughtfully, patiently, watchfully, and know why you look.

Donna Collins
October 15, 2013