Windows to the Soul

Taken from: M. Manuel et al.
BMC Developmental Biology 2008, 8:59 [View article]


My older brother is a genius and I am not. He was Pre-med. I studied Nursing. So when we found each other unexpectedly in the same embryology course at the University of Texas, I was a bit nervous. To my sibling rivalry credit, I never missed a class. He, on the other hand, rarely showed up for the 8 am lectures. When I "beat" him on the first test, I was astounded, and also a bit puffed up. But by the time the final rolled around, he breezed by me and ended up with an "A" in the class. I blew it and was thrilled to squeak by with a "B."

Other than the aforementioned story, I don't remember much from that class. However, one of the statements made by the professor has always stayed with me. The professor had written the textbook we were using and showed us numerous slides of human embryos in various stages of development. One time he was teaching us how the brain and the eyes develop from the same neural tube tissue. In the first stage of eye development, two optic vesicles literally punch forward out of the developing brain. Smiling, the professor said, "Perhaps the eyes truly are the windows to the soul."

Do the eyes reflect what is happening within us? Do they tell of our identity? Do they reveal any part of our soul? Science might agree. Computerized iris scanners are used to determine identity for security purposes. Swedish psychology graduate student Mats Larsson studied iris patterns and found correlations to personality traits. Human experience also supports the eyes reveal our disposition. Parents and teachers are able to look into the eyes of a child and realize he is sick. Or confused, or mischievous. Or lying. Our eyes can reveal more than we would like sometimes.

Remember this photo taken of the Afghan girl when she was in a refugee camp in Pakistan? Her eyes have haunted people all over the world. Their intensity make you stop and take notice of her plight. Her eyes speak of her life and of her individuality.


Photo by Steve McCurry, of 12yr. old Sharbat Gula, cover of National Geographic Magazine, Dec. 1984


So if the eyes are so much a part of our individuality, can we make any observations about the individuality of a developing baby? By 50 days gestation, intricate parts of the developing eye can clearly be determined. Many times at this point, the mother doesn't even realize she is pregnant. But where this life is developing, stretching, struggling sometimes for life, the color of each babies' eyes, their unique striations, their size have already been blueprinted. God has created her eyes specifically for her. And not only her eyes, but her soul as well.

photomicrograph of developing eye, 50 days gestation

For as the psalmist writes: “For You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well.” Psalm 139: 13-14

Take time and look closely at your eyes in the mirror before you go to bed tonight- study the variations of color, the striations, the specks, everything that makes your eyes unique. What is the condition of your soul? Are you a person of character? Of goodness? Perhaps you a sinner struggling to overcome temptation and find the love of God. The unborn baby has the same right to gaze into his own eyes one day and ask the same questions. He has the right to discover the God-given, God-created, unique windows to his soul.