Overview
What this book is about
A short book of about 140 small pages, with no chapters, references or index. Each spread pairs a one-line saying with a titled story or reflection, usually one page and sometimes two. Liberman says the pieces are "excerpted from hundreds of unprepared presentations," "minimally edited," and that the words "came THROUGH me in moments of emptiness." Page numbers below are the printed ones, the easiest way to find a piece.
The core argument is on the back cover: "True health and happiness depend on how free we are of the past, how unattached we are to the future, and ultimately, how present we are in each moment." Liberman says the thinking mind ("chatter") stands between us and life. Our real self is the observer, the "noticer," not the thinker. When we stop identifying with thoughts, labels and life stories, life guides us ("non-doing"), the body heals itself, and relationships become honest. "Real meditation" is ordinary life: deal with what is in front of you now, tell the truth without compromise, and give freely.
For health, the message is that mind and body are one: "Your body is the living canvas of your thoughts"; "It's not the disease that kills you, it's the diagnosis!" Seeing is the book's main metaphor. Its central eye claim is Liberman's own story (p. 9): in meditation his vision went from "barely being able to see the eye chart, to seeing better than normal," and stayed so. He concludes "it is our insight, and not our eyesight, that must be healed." The eye material is about belief and attention. There is no eye program and nothing on dry eyes.
The evidence is all anecdote and statement. Science references are loose and unsourced: quantum physics ("nothing exists without an observer"), David Bohm's "All matter is frozen light," and "molecules of emotion" (unattributed). Spiritual sources include the Talmud, Kabbalah, Genesis, Zen satori, wu wei (spelled "wu-we-wu") and the Yiddish mensch. Conflicts of interest are light: one story about his company's color-therapy device, a book built from his talks and workshops, and his company's contact and website on the copyright page. The EYEPORT and any vision product are not mentioned. Details at the end of Practical Takeaways.
Key Ideas
The core frameworks and findings
1
Wisdom comes from emptiness, not preparation
He dropped his forty index cards at a graduate lecture on learning disabilities. The talk became three hours on "learning without effort," and he has spoken unprepared ever since (pp. 2–3). "True wisdom lies in not knowing" (p. 4).
2
We see things as we are
The Talmud line "We don't see things as they are. We see them as we are" (pp. 7, 99). Each floor of the Empire State Building sees farther than the one below (p. 7).
3
Insight, not eyesight, must be healed
His own vision change (p. 9). A contact-lens wearer's blur cleared when she realized she was already wearing her lenses (p. 11). "When you pretend you can't see what's in front of you, you teach your eyes to blur it out" (p. 20). Our ideas mold "our physical eyesight" and "the way our entire body works" (p. 45).
4
You are the observer, not the thinker
"We're not the clouds—we are the sky" (p. 33). "Notice who is noticing" (p. 37). The less we engage chatter, "the mind becomes smaller" (p. 95).
5
The body heals itself; presence is the healer
The body "is always seeking homeostasis." Most medicine looks for a "fix." With presence we heal by "not interfering with life's natural self-healing ability" (p. 39).
6
Labels lock things in
"The moment we label anything, we stop its natural process of change" (p. 41). Would yesterday's ache or diagnosis still be there if you forgot everything overnight (p. 89)?
7
Mind and body react as one
After his late-1970s divorce he had 30–40 anxiety attacks a day for eight years (p. 44). A narrowed view of reality "also constricts our kidneys, our heart, our liver, and our blood vessels" (p. 45). Held-in emotion tightens the breath, throat, lower back and pelvis, and bodies stiffen as beliefs harden (pp. 64–65).
8
Breath shows presence
"When we think, the breath disappears. When we breathe, the mind disappears" (pp. 91–93).
9
Take care of what is in front of you, now
"When you see it, do it! Don't prioritize anything" (p. 25).
10
Non-doing: respond, don't push
Neither passive nor active but "optimal presence," like an athlete's "zone"; life "always has the first move" (p. 29). Thinking ahead is "cheating" yourself of discovery (p. 67).
11
Avoidance is the real addiction; ignored signals get louder
Drugs, alcohol and food are only the obvious ways of "changing the subject" (p. 63). A $40 bank overpayment, kept despite a nagging feeling, ends in a $4,000 crash (p. 79).
12
Drop the past and the stories
Each repeat of an old behavior signs "another year's lease on your old patterns" (p. 85). Our stories "are killing us" (p. 87).
13
Truth without compromise
Share what you are experiencing, then listen (p. 107). "Kindness is cruel if it compromises the truth" (p. 108). Self-compromise breeds resentment (pp. 109, 116).
14
Children remind adults how to live
We lived in bliss until we saw ourselves through others' eyes (pp. 58–59); growing up made us "adulterated" (p. 57).
15
Gratitude and generosity
"If you want to experience prosperity, start giving things away" (p. 121).
Contents
Chapter by chapter — click to expand
§
Front and back matter
▾
- Blurbs: Neale Donald Walsch, James Redfield, Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, Bonnie Raitt, Louise Hay ("one of my favorite teachers!").
- Copyright page: Jacob Liberman, Inc., Sedona, AZ, with phone, email and www.jacobliberman.com.
- Acknowledgments: family (wife Claudia, children Gina and Erik) and Paul Lowe. Erik thanks his father: "You gave me eyes to see."
§
Emptiness and not knowing (pp. 1–5)
▾
- "Wisdom has no author" (p. 1); "How It All Started" (pp. 2–3): the dropped index cards.
- "Jumping In" (p. 5): school was hard and he felt stupid. Degrees, money and a fancy car left him empty. He gave away his books and research to find out "who I really was."
§
Seeing and vision (pp. 6–23) — the main eye section
▾
- "Perspective" (p. 7): the Empire State Building; the Talmud quote.
- "When the 'I' stops looking, the eyes start seeing" (p. 8).
- "Seeing Holographically" (p. 9): meditating with eyes closed, he "saw" himself from everywhere, "as if the room was filled with eyes." He opened them to better-than-normal vision, which has lasted. As an optometrist he had to "reconsider everything." A personal anecdote.
- "Seeing is not believing ..." (p. 10).
- "Believing Is Seeing!" (p. 11): at his weekend vision workshop in Seattle, a 26-year contact-lens wearer woke to blur, then realized she had slept in her lenses, and "my vision cleared!" The book draws no lesson about sleeping in lenses.
- "True vision is allowing the invisible to become visible" (p. 12).
- "Satori" (p. 13): cover one eye, look around, slowly uncover it, and notice the change. Used to point to the "third eye"; satori is a "kick in the eye."
- "The Light of God" (pp. 14–15): real vision as seeing the invisible (credited to Jonathan Swift); near-death experiences; awareness as Light.
- "What You See Is What You Get" (p. 17); "The Mind Makes It Matter" (p. 19): the quantum observer. The mind is film in a projector, and the "frequencies" (colors) of life we dislike are parts of ourselves not yet embraced. This echoes his color therapy.
- "When you pretend you can't see what's in front of you, you teach your eyes to blur it out" (p. 20).
- "To See or Not to See" (p. 21): for a week, anything that entered his awareness became his to finish, even cigarette butts on the street.
- "Stop Looking and Start Seeing" (p. 23): an artist steps back, "opening his focus, softening his gaze," and lets his eyes find what needs work. "In looking for nothing, we begin to see everything." The book's only description of a way of using the eyes.
§
Daily life as practice (pp. 24–31)
▾
- "Living in the Moment" (p. 25): pay the bill, take out the trash and make the bed now.
- "Human Beings" (p. 27): from "human doings to human beings."
- "Non-Doing" (p. 29).
- "Being Normal Isn't Natural" (p. 31): the "normal" person will get "cancer, arthritis, vision loss, or heart disease." Wild animals are always present: "You never see a bear ... doing aerobics."
§
The observer (pp. 32–37)
▾
- "The Movie of Life" (p. 33); "Not the Individual 'I,' But the 'I Am'" (p. 35); "Disappearing" (p. 37): personality is a facade over the essential self. Includes the "notice who is noticing" exercise.
§
Health, healing and the mind (pp. 38–49)
▾
- "Being Whole" (p. 39): homeostasis and presence.
- "A Watched Pot Never Boils" (p. 41): "It's not the disease that kills you, it's the diagnosis!"
- "Instant Healing" (pp. 42–43): an anecdote. He saw a "brown growth" in his throat and panicked, with racing heart, sweating, cold limbs and diarrhea, remembering his father's throat cancer. A doctor friend told him to feel it. It was a piece of chocolate macaroon.
- "You Are What You Think" (pp. 44–45): the anxiety years and "molecules of emotion." Be "the noticer and not the thinker." Ideas shape eyesight and organs.
- "Wellness Is Contagious" (p. 47): the experimenter can't be separated from the experiment. Can a doctor's limiting beliefs block a patient's recovery? Future doctors relate more and repair less.
- "Mensch" (p. 49): a Swiss workshop participant who was angry at all men calls him "a mensch."
§
Presence and meditation (pp. 50–55)
▾
- "The ultimate meditation is being here now . . . eyes open, present, and responsive" (p. 50).
- "Crisis Leads to Opportunity" (p. 51): be present with worry and anger; don't "suppress it, process it, or project it."
- "Coming Home" (p. 53): "nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one to become."
- "Meditation" (p. 55): short breath-watching sessions, then eyes open while driving or eating (see Practical Takeaways).
§
Childhood and conditioning (pp. 56–65)
▾
- "The best way to preserve a child's vision is to let them see things their way rather than yours" (p. 56).
- "Adulteration" (p. 57); "As a Whole, or Through a Hole" (pp. 58–59): personality is a set of compensating behaviors.
- "The Terrible Two's" (p. 61): toddlers individuating, and parents who feel children are "theirs."
- "Changing the Subject" (p. 63); "Conditioning" (pp. 64–65): families that hide feelings; emotion held in the body.
§
Honesty, avoidance and stories (pp. 66–89)
▾
- "Cheating" (p. 67): "Isn't thinking just a fancy word for worrying?"
- "Your Life Depends On It" (p. 69): parents who pretend everything is fine.
- "You Can't Get Away With Anything" (p. 71): he stole a candy bar at 13: "I saw me!"
- "The Mirror of Life" (p. 73): the speeding ticket. "To Agree Or Disagree" (p. 75). "Direct Experience" (p. 77): missionaries asked whether Jesus "looks like his pictures."
- "The High Price of Manipulation" (p. 79). "Complaint" (p. 81): a complainer beside a happy, severely disabled man.
- "Meltdown" (pp. 82–83): Erik phoned upset. Jacob stayed present and loving without "jump[ing] into the cesspool." The next morning Erik called back: "Dad, you beautiful man." "Misery loves company. Bliss doesn't need any."
- "Past and Present" (p. 85); "Stop Telling Stories" (p. 87).
- "Forgetting Yourself" (p. 89): a pill that erases memory, including "whether you can see clearly without your glasses."
§
Breath, mind and creation (pp. 90–105)
▾
- "Breathe" (p. 91); "Thinking and Breathing" (pp. 92–93): thinking narrows the breath. Watching it, the breath spreads to the diaphragm, the pelvis and "your entire body." He says the rate falls "from fifteen to five to three to two and eventually to one breath per minute."
- "Mind Fields" (p. 95): the mind as autopilot. Let chatter fade "like a pair of audio speakers moving further and further away."
- "The 'I' or the 'Eye'?" (p. 97); "Creation" (pp. 98–99): intellect versus heart-seeing intelligence; "thoughts that think us."
- "What's the Rush?" (p. 101): rushing shortens life.
- "A Near-Life Experience" (pp. 102–103): in 1979 he choked on a bay leaf in Miami; a life review in seconds; a diner did the Heimlich.
- "'No Body' Does Not Mean Nobody" (pp. 104–105): death as a dolphin diving out of sight.
§
Communication, love and relationships (pp. 106–117)
▾
- "Communication" (p. 107); "Honest Expression" (p. 109): communicate like a baby. Held-back truth works like a pressure cooker and ends in wars.
- "Without Intimacy, We Experience Loss" (p. 111): we don't choose when love comes or goes.
- "Things Either Work or They Don't" (pp. 112–113): he met an interpreter in Austria and married her 4½ months later. "Try rising into love, rather than falling in it."
- "What keeps us up at night is what we have kept down during the day" (p. 114).
- "No Big Deal" (p. 115): "When we don't say it, it's a big deal. When we say it, it's no big deal!"
- "Compromise" (p. 117): vegetarianism as a "cause" can "poison the benefits of 'eating right.'" He ate filet mignon after 15 meatless years.
§
Generosity and giving (pp. 118–127)
▾
- "Save Room for Dessert" (pp. 118–119): 20 francs to a deaf pen-seller in Zurich.
- "Spirit of Generosity" (pp. 120–121): poor Egyptian villagers all invited him to eat.
- "More Space In My Life" (p. 123): a workshop attendee asked about buying "one of the color therapy instruments we manufacture." He gave her an old prototype for free. The only product mention (see conflicts).
- "No Way To Say It" (p. 125); "If You Need, Please Take" (p. 127): states of bliss after a talk and on a European sidewalk.
§
Mystery and wholeness (pp. 128–138)
▾
- "The Mystery of Life" (p. 129); "Being Total" (p. 131); "Enlightenment" (p. 133): "our greatest strength is our vulnerability." "Hidden Harmony" (pp. 134–135); "Is There Any Moment But Now?" (p. 137); "The Beginning . . ." (p. 138).
Practical Takeaways
What to actually do with this
Watch your breath in many short bursts:20 one-minute sessions a day, then 40 of 30 seconds, then 80 of 15 seconds (p. 55).
Then practice eyes open, while driving or eatingWatch the breath to the end of the block, then to a light three blocks away, and let the stretches join up (p. 55).
When the mind chatters, watch the body breatheDon't fight the thoughts (pp. 92–93, 95).
"Notice who is noticing":eyes closed, notice your body, then your thoughts, then the one noticing (p. 37).
When upset, stay with the feelingDon't suppress it, analyze it or blame anyone (p. 51).
Soft gaze, open focus:step back and let the eyes scan the whole scene without looking for anything (p. 23).
One-eye exercise:cover one eye, look around, slowly uncover it (p. 13). An awareness exercise, not eye training.
Don't "pretend not to see."For a week, deal with and finish whatever enters your awareness (pp. 20–21).
Dry eyes:the book says nothing about dry eyes, tears, blinking, eye drops, screens, lens care or the eyes during sleep.
"When you see it, do it": bills, trash, bed (p. 25).
Act on early gut signals(p. 79). Skip excuses when life hands you a "ticket" (p. 73).
Slow down when driving(p. 101).
Eat by inner guidance, not as a "cause"(p. 117).
Share only what you are experiencing, then listen without interruptingDon't assume what the other feels (p. 107).
Say it now;unsaid things become resentment (pp. 109, 115, 116).
Listen without agreeing or disagreeingEmbrace what resonates; otherwise "thank them and move on" (p. 75).
When someone is triggered, don't jump inStay present and loving (pp. 82–83).
Catch yourself mid-story and stopNotice what you do now that keeps the old pattern alive, rather than digging into the past (pp. 85, 87).
Practice gratitude instead of complaint(pp. 80–81).
Let a toddler walk when it wants to,and set up a safe space to practice instead of picking it up (p. 61).
Let children see things their own way(p. 56).
Don't pretend all is well at home when it isn't;children feel the gap (p. 69).
Express feelings openly in the family(pp. 64–65).
Don't build your identity around a diagnosis;he says labels lock a condition in (pp. 41, 89).
Trust the body's self-healing before looking for a "fix"(p. 39). In his own throat scare he did phone a doctor friend (pp. 42–43).
Give away what isn't essential,and give on the spot when moved (pp. 118–122).
Own product (p. 123):"the color therapy instruments we manufacture." He told a workshop attendee one "might be helpful to her," mentioned a used one for resale, then gave her a prototype. No brand, price or ordering details. No EYEPORT or vision product.
Workshops:the book is drawn from his talks. Many stories happen at his workshops and events (Seattle vision workshop p. 11; Switzerland p. 49; Austria p. 112; Egypt healing conference p. 120; also pp. 81, 123, 125). His eyesight evidence is his own experience (p. 9) and his own workshop (p. 11).
Contact and website:the copyright page sends readers to Jacob Liberman, Inc. and www.jacobliberman.com.
Publisher:Empty Mind Publications shares the book's name and gives no address of its own. The book doesn't say whether it is his imprint.
Blurbs:all from spiritual and self-help authors plus Bonnie Raitt. No business ties are stated.
See Also
Related books in the library
[[jacob-liberman]] (Light: Medicine of the Future; Take Off Your Glasses and See, being added next). The same author. Light holds the practical eye and light advice, including an "Eyes, eye strain and dryness" section. Take Off Your Glasses and See expands the "insight, not eyesight" and soft-gaze ideas this book only touches (pp. 9, 11, 20, 23).
[[kneipp]] (Thus Shalt Thou Live; My Water Cure). This book has no hands-on eye care; Kneipp's cold-water eye baths and fennel or eyebright washes are the library's practical eye routines.
[[dan-millman]] (Way of the Peaceful Warrior). The closest match: presence, mind versus awareness, "no ordinary moments," and breath as the way back to now.
[[joe-dispenza]] (Becoming Supernatural). The same quantum-observer, mind–body healing and "third eye" claims, built into a structured meditation program.
[[daniel-goleman]] (Altered Traits). A research check on meditation claims. Long-term meditators breathe about 1.6 breaths a minute slower, against Liberman's "one breath per minute" (pp. 92–93).
[[susan-david]] (Emotional Agility). "Don't suppress it" (p. 51) and "the noticer, not the thinker" (p. 45) match her case against bottling and brooding and for stepping out of your thoughts.
[[sam-harris]] (Lying). Full honesty, white lies included; parallels "Kindness is cruel if it compromises the truth" (pp. 108–109).
[[harville-hendrix]] (Getting the Love You Want). His couples dialogue matches "share ... then listen" (p. 107). His view that relationships take deliberate work counters "relationships either work or they don't" (p. 112).
[[gabor-mate]] (Hold On to Your Kids). Toddler individuation (p. 61), with attachment stressed where Liberman stresses letting go.
[[bandler]] (Get the Life You Want). Change by noticing what you do now rather than analyzing the past, as in "Past and Present" and "Stop Telling Stories" (pp. 85, 87).
[[viktor-frankl]] (Man's Search for Meaning). Choosing your attitude in suffering; echoes "Complaint" and "Crisis Leads to Opportunity" (pp. 51, 81).
[[john-holt]] (How Children Learn). Learning through living ("Adulteration," p. 57; "learning without effort," p. 3).