Now I Can See by Loretta Huggins

In the 2011 blockbuster movie, Limitless, protagonist Eddie Morra is a struggling writer whose life has spun out of control: he lives in a thick mental fog. One day a friend gives him a nootropic drug, and it changes his life completely. The drug gives him the ability to utilize his brain completely. The mental fog vanishes. In the euphoria of his enhanced mentality, he says, “I was blind, but now I see” (Limitless). Art does imitate life, as Eddie’s words are borrowed from the Bible: “… one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” John 9:25 (The Voice).

The above passage of Scripture is the account of a blind man whom Jesus healed by placing mud spit-balls on his eyes. The religious leaders, who witnessed the miracle, were angry that the now sighted-man gave praise to Jesus Christ. They denounced Jesus as a sinner and demanded that healed-man followed their example. But the man refused. He did not care whether the religious leaders’ claims about Jesus were true, or were not true. What he cared about was the life-changing miracle of sight. Interestingly, the word blind in the Biblical text is the Greek word tuphlos: it is an adjective, meaning opaque (smoky, or foggy) physically and mentally.

Eddie, although sighted, was mentally blind and lived a defeated life. As the character Eddie, many people are physically sighted but mentally blind: they live in a thick mental fog. In 2015, four years after the movie, the sales of nootropics rose to one billion dollars – just in the United States of America (USA). Proof that people want to experience the “Eddie Morra” enlightenment; we all want to improve our lives in all dimensions.

Unfortunately, most of the smart drugs, cognitive enhancers, and other like substances on the market cannot produce the “Eddie Morra” moment. Clarity of mind seems to be most too fleeting to obtain. I am not against using health supplements to enhance one’s astuteness because we all would like to have a supplement to improve our take on life. Until that happens, here is a prayer that will produce clarity of mind: affecting every part of one’s being:

“I ask…the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory – to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for [you] Ephesians 1:18-19 (The Message).

There are many negative voices that will try to convince you and me that we are doomed to blindly go about our lives – living from one crisis to the next crisis. But if we pray the above prayer from Ephesians in faith we will experience a life-changing miracle of believing we are created to live a glorious life. Then we can say to all the negative voices against us, “All I know is that I was blind and now I can see for the first time in my life!” (The Passion Translation)