I want to see(3)

"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." (Mark 10:51)

The answer of Bartimaeus could be an expression of his strong desire to escape from his inconvenient life caused by his sight impediment. He eagerly wanted to be free from social contempt and even risked his own existence. In his desperate state of life, to him there is no question of right or wrong to have such intense desire to be free from his burden of blindness. The fact is that Bartimaeus was captured by a certain absolute power. He wanted to come out from the world of darkness to the world of light. There is no greater intensity of desire for one to come out of the world of such total darkness.

The Zen priests in Buddhism set a certain question for meditation. Most of Zen priests basically take a peaceful rest in summer and winter. The learned and virtuous priests hold on to a question for meditation for lifetime. To hold a question for meditation does not mean that they should immediately get a certain answer. It is an endless process of quest for an answer to the question. It is an experience led by the absolute power. Though Christian belief is different from that of the Buddhism, the manner in which a blind man anxiously waits for the world with light bears similarity to the endless quest for an answer to a question in the life of a Buddhist priest.

However, such study is not easy. Truly speaking, it is hard for an ordinary person to feel a necessity of such study. People’s ignorance about the life can be a reason. What is more, people do not know the world of light. It is similar to Plato’s parable of cave. Those who were staying in the cave never accept the reality of the world outside despite repeated explanations about the outer world.

Do we want to see? If such inner desire gushes out from us, we do not give much concern to other things. It is just like children who excessively indulge in games become indifferent to the necessity of study. We are the people who want to see the light of God.