Seeing Through All Things Is Not Seeing At All

C.S. Lewis recognized that trying to understand or analyze everything at its most fundamental level can lead to a loss of meaning and depth. In A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis he said, “It is no use trying to ‘see through’ first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see” (p 270). Just imagine being able to see through everything. While I believe in being transparent from a leadership standpoint, I also recognize that we would go crazy trying to understand and know every detail about everything.

If everything is completely transparent and understood, then there is no mystery or wonder left in the world. To see through all things means to not truly see or appreciate them for what they are. For example, if we think of glass, it is really opaque. Glass exhibits colors beyond our vision and absorbs wavelengths that our brains cannot convert into an understandable image which makes it transparent to us. Thus, glass amazingly absorbs UV radiation, which we can’t see, and that is why you cannot get tanned or sunburned through it. It is important, in many respects, to recognize and respect the inherent complexity and beauty in the world, rather than trying to reduce everything to its basic elements.

Byron's Babbles