Lets give this a thought...

[meogi]

Something we all (most) of us take for granted today... sight. If we have bad eyesight, it's not hard to get it corrected to near 20/20 vision. So we see things as they are 'ment' to be seen, so to say...

But 1000+ years ago, this was not the case. So I'm gonna pose the question, How do you think most people saw back then? And do you think this may have affected the way your religion interpreted things?

 

[Lightkeeper]

Something we all (most) of us take for granted today... sight. If we have bad eyesight, it's not hard to get it corrected to near 20/20 vision. So we see things as they are 'ment' to be seen, so to say...

But 1000+ years ago, this was not the case. So I'm gonna pose the question, How do you think most people saw back then? And do you think this may have affected the way your religion interpreted things?

Here's a little info I found from the Optics Website:

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[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In the ancient world, people had already started discovering ways to improve their eyesight. The ancient Egyptians and the Romans realized that when glass and crystal bowls were filled with water, it became easier to read. Starting in the 13th century, magnifying glasses were used for reading, and lenses for nearsightedness were developed in the 16th century. In 1775, the American Benjamin Franklin developed the first bifocals. Adolph Eugen Fick (a Swiss doctor), made the first contact lenses out of glass, in 1887. Plastic lenses were developed in 1948 by Kevin Tuohy.

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I don't think eyesight has had any effect on religious interpretation.

 

[meogi]

Those dates are why I said 1000+ years ago... until the advent of glasses, whether we knew something could improve our sight or not, not everyone saw everything as 'clearly' as most do now. I'm only 20, and my eyesight is pretty bad (not true of everyone, but a lot of people have at least some eyesight problems... many starting from early age). And without glasses, the way I would have interpreted the world, would be a lot different. Think about the moon/sun. With glasses, details can be seen in any of them... but without, they are just blurs. (Albeit circular blurs. But the way you thought of the sun/moon would probably be different if you couldn't see details on them)

I'm not saying sight had a large impact on anyone's belief structure... I'm just trying to start a discussion about 'how' you think your belief could be affected (especially if it's based off of 'one' person's view of the world... if they saw it differently, well...).

 

[Wes]

As far as direct physical eyesight there wouldn't be any difference unless the person has 20/20 vision. Even if they have 20/20 they are just seeing more clearly, religion and sight do have a corralation being that all religions use symbols and rituals to convey certain aspects, however there are alot of blind people who are religious, so in answer to your question I don't think doctrinally it has any influence.

 

[jewscout]

Lightkeeper has got something on use of glass and crystals to help those with vision problems. For those with poor eyesight before the discovery of such devises...well they were just S.O.L. As far as its connection to religion i'd bet that it had a marginal effect...now Hallucinogens on the other hand