A seer is someone who perceives the spirit realm with his or her own eyes, or in his or her mind’s eye. Seers can be adults, but many are children. It’s not their fault. It’s just a gift or ability that some people are born with, or sometimes develop as they mature or have supernatural encounters.
I (Doug) am not a seer. Over the years, as my wife and I struggled to parent someone who sometimes sees in the spirit realm, I have learned that there are a lot of people who can see in the spirit realm. A startlingly high number, actually, but most have learned to keep this ability quiet, less people think they are crazy.
Seers see what?!
Broadly speaking, a seer is someone who receives spiritual revelation visually. That means things in the spirit realm are being revealed visually. They are seeing the “unseen realm” or the “spirit realm.” Some seers have periodic visions or dreams, but a lot of seers cannot help it and what they see appears as real as anything the rest of can see.
Seeing as a Spiritual Gift
When seers speak about what they see, they sometimes are speaking prophetically. This doesn’t mean what they see is from God or that their interpretation is absolutely true: it’s just revelation about the spirit realm.
Other times, seers are able to discern what spirits are operating. For instance, often seers can tell if a spirit in the room is wicked spirit, a ghost, or some other kind of spirit. The ability to see spirits, however, is not the biblical gift of discerning spirits.
Seeing Spirits or Hallucinating?
The word “hallucinating” connotes the idea that the seers aren’t actually seeing anything that’s really there. But what if they really do see something that isn’t there, something that most of the rest of us cannot see?
Recently, the American tool for diagnosing mental illnesses, the DSM-5, has reclassified the concept of seeing spirits (within a religious context), such that this symptom can no longer be counted towards a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Apparently, some in the mental health field are recognizing that people who say they can see spirits aren’t necessarily crazy.
Seers See Spiritual Conflict
On this site, I discuss the seeing gift specifically regarding those who visually see spirits, auras, multi-colored lights (such as rainbow-colored dots), angels, demons, and other spiritual phenomena that are in fact difficult to quantify in a society which embraces merely a scientific materialist worldview.
According to Jesus Christ, God’s intention is always to bring abundant life on earth, whereas God’s spiritual enemies intend to steal, kill, and destroy.[ref]John 10:10[/ref] The advancing of God’s intention is the advancing of the Kingdom of God. Where God’s enemies rule is called the Domain of Darkness. Where these two interact, you find spiritual warfare. Seers are often able to actually see this interaction.
See the pages linked to here for more on this spiritual conflict.
Understanding What Seers See
I think much of what exists on the Internet about people who ‘see’ is misinformation based on feelings, experiences, and largely rooted in Gnosticism, with little truth underlying it.
This site exists to help people build a framework to interpret and understand what it is seers see built on concepts around the Kingdom of God, as revealed by Jesus Christ. See Who is Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God for more on this.
There are subsets of seers, and some see much more than just spirits. Some see ‘weapons’ or ‘intentions’ of free-willed beings. Some see the sins people struggle with, or the demons they wrestle with. Some seers can actually see what God or other spirits “are doing”, or what God wants to do or what will or could happen.
Here’s a blog post I wrote after sort of being surprised by several young seers and the things they saw in the spirit realm. Much more than “just seeing spirits.”
A Gift to do an Ability
The ability a seer has to see into the spirit realm is just that: an ability. It can be a temporary gifting or a more permanent state. Because a lot of discourse regarding spiritual gifts is actually quite biblically flawed, please see the series of posts found here for the explanation behind this idea.
Professional athletes are gifted with the ability to perform athletic feats. Similarly, some people are gifted with the ability to see into the spiritual realm. As the professional athlete can choose to use that gift to help others or for selfish purposes, so can the seer choose which side to help with this ability.
Brain Chemistry
The ability to perceive into the supernatural realm may be related to brain chemistry, perhaps surrounding the pineal gland.
This gland produces hormones related to sleep, growth and sex. It is supposedly “activated” in the brain when someone prays or meditates on spiritual matters. It’s been called the “third eye”, the “seat of the soul” and much mysticism surrounds it, but I remain skeptical about these ideas.
Many religions consider the pineal gland to be a gateway to spiritual consciousness. Western diet, fluoridated water, and constant visual stimulation (constant television programming) tends to calcify or numb the pineal gland’s ability to function. Maybe this is why some can “see” as children, but as they age, they cannot: their pineal gland has been so blunted by pollutants generated by Western society.
Some drugs act on the pineal gland also, instantly shutting it down or stimulating it. This is why when some seers go to “get help” from a doctor and are prescribed psychotropic meds, then the “seeing” stops.
I know people who interact with God, and once they start on these meds, they instantly find their ability to interact with God blocked. See this post for more on that.
I know a seer who was afflicted with migraines, and took certain migraine medication, only to find her ability to see in the spirit realm stopped. Eventually, she and her doctor switched medications, and a few weeks later, her ability to perceive returned, although the migraines stayed away. I haven’t been able to locate research to indicate if some of these drugs impact the pineal gland, but I suspect they do.
Other drugs (LSD, marijuana) may radically affect this part of the brain in very negative ways.
Mystically Wired
I suspect the brains of people who see into the spirit realm are wired somewhat differently than those of us who cannot. Their brains are able to pick up on whatever vibrations emanate from the spirit realm. It’s an ability their brains have, like a special radio that is tuned into frequencies that most other radios can’t detect. Desired or not, this rewiring is a gift.
I believe all humans are wired to interact with God on some level: we are all mystically wired. However, seers are wired more sensitively.
It’s a spectrum, like some people’s radios are better able to tune in to distant frequencies than others. For some people, they only see when they dream. Others see only occasionally during their waking states. Other people see when they “tune in” or “dial back” mentally. And still others see all the time, unable to switch it off.
Bottom Line
Seeing is a spiritual gift or ability.
You don’t have to be religious to be a seer. Some people’s brains are wired in such a way that they perceive beyond the physical realm into the spiritual realm. They literally can see with their eyes, or sometimes images are cast in their minds that surpass their physical eyes.
However, being gifted in this area should lead to study and applying it for use according to live as God would have you live, imaging him on the planet. Roger Federer uses his tennis ability and skills to bring millions of dollars to the very poor. Seers can use their ability to expose the wiles of the enemy for the Kingdom of God.
Of course, some do not. Some use it for their own profit or to exploit others or for their own agendas or agendas of spirits not loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Seers and Prophecy
Some seers can see events before they happen, or possible events, because time is not static and not set.
See this page for more thoughts on that.
The Point of the Matter
God created humans to be the image of God here on the planet, and some of us have greater gifts of leading, or building, or thinking, or loving, or whatever. Some see into the spirit world.
God’s expectation is that all of us use our gifts to better the world according to God’s will.
Since humans have so botched their mission to be “God’s Imagers”, Jesus came to restore human destiny and authority and to demonstrate the Way to live.
This site exists to help seers and others to develop a worldview that sees the physical and the spiritual as God sees them, and then to act accordingly. Start with the Worldview series to begin your journey and be sure to subscribe to the newsletter for important updates, new teachings and other material.