Doubtless the eye was a purely metaphorical manifestation.
I thought that Sauron could not take on the form of a man after he was swallowed up in the Numenoreans' downfall, but maybe I'm wrong.
Also, I don't see him compromising himself by actually going anywhere. Rather, he impresses one with a sense of something like partial omnipotence (looking towards the West, per se).
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"'You," he said, "tell her all. What good came to you? Do you rejoice that Maleldil became a man? Tell her of your joys, and of what profit you had when you made Maleldil and death acquainted.'" -Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis
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