Optometrist, Dr Harry Sirota, died in on Saturday, February 27, 2010

Dr .Harry Sirota was an optometrist with a new way of seeing.  He was interested in making the process of being fitted with glasses a process of enlightenment-- “insight" as he would say.  He stated that the reason that the words “eye” and “I” sounded the same was because the “eye” provided the sense of who we are.  In order to empower the process of becoming enlightenment, he provided all the rods and cones of the eye with their rightful amount of light, not just the part of the eye that gives us sharp vision.  By giving attention to the peripheral vision, the lucky person fitted with his glasses had more depth of perception, colors were brighter, visual tasks such as reading and driving became easier.  More importantly his patients found that with his glasses one’s ability to relate to the world became easier, happier, more delightful. 

In order to properly fit glasses, Dr. Sirota studied how a person moved.  He had learned that with standard glasses, people often become more rigid in the way they walked, moved and related to the world. He attributed the decline of architecture to the use of glasses which reduced the sense of three dimensionality. 

Dr. Sirota was interested in knowing how the glasses felt.  He had found that with standard fitting of glasses, the patient often complained that the glasses “did not feel right.”  The glasses were often put in a drawer and not used.  Worse yet, patient eventually got used to the glasses, but their vision got worse in the process.  One of the most empowering parts of his work is that he fitted the glasses with the patient’s eyes closed.  He said that with eyes closed, the light falls on the eyelids, and a tiny amount of light passes through the lids. “With the eyes closed, you can focus on your response to the lenses with less distraction.”