Invisibility: Can God see Harry Potter?



Eye of Providence (by Solipsist)



Now that scientists are well on their way to replicating the chief characteristic of Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, two ultimate questions come to mind:  Is invisibility a spiritual benefit?  And…  Is it even possible to be spiritually invisible?

In an article titled Scientist creates thermal ‘invisibility cloak,’

Amanda Guerra reports that a physicist at the University of Texas at Dallas has created this “cloak” from several strands of carbon nanotubes.  This material “becomes so hot when heated up that it can bend light around an object, making it look as if it has disappeared.”  This technology can be eventually used to make large objects, “such as military tankers,” appear to disappear.

Such military uses of technology can be (and have been) heartily debated.  However, you hardly ever hear a coffee-break conversation that focuses upon the spiritual pros and cons of invisible people.  If such a conversation were to exist (which already sounds appropriately philosophical), what might be some major points to ponder?

Well first off, there’s that nagging Eye of Providence (otherwise known as the All-Seeing Eye of God).  As its name implies, total invisibility is neither a wave of the future nor the past (and its prospects for the present

are looking equally dim).  Ignotus Peverell might have been able to ditch Death for the short run, but God wasn’t fooled for a  mortal minute.  Whether it be through the Egyptian Eye of Horus, the Buddhist Eye of the World, the Hindu Third Eye, or the Esoteric Great Seal – God’s vision has been beyond 20/20 for many a year.  If that weren’t intimidating enough, God’s omniscience is also reportedly well intact.

Does this mean that invisibility is spiritually defunct?  Perhaps in reality, but certainly not in principle.  In fact,

Jesus sometimes seemed to applaud invisibility.   (From Matthew 6:6:  “But when you pray, go into your room…”)  Some even say that Jesus had once donned his own version of an invisibility cloak.   (From Luke

4:30:  “But passing through the midst of them, he went away...”)

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloak_of_invisibility

http://thejesusvirus.org/2011/06/22/the-public-invisibility-motif/

http://www.opensourcetheology.net/node/1307

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45226591/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniscience

Copyright December 2, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke