Perspective and Perception

DeAnna Willman photo Naoki Suzuki @unsplash

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6

Last time we talked about how in 90 seconds you can determine if you will accept as truth the emotion your amygdala assigns to each thought, experience, and belief. To be honest, I had a situation come up in my own life last week where I had to admit the hurt that was felt while choosing to accept as truth that the hurt was not intentional. I also had to choose whether to allow that hurt to color my relationship with the person involved. I acknowledged the hurt I felt, but I CHOSE how I wanted to respond to the situation and the hurt. I know that the hurt will eventually be extremely minor in the scope of things, so why choose to take offense or allow it to color a precious relationship? How about you? What emotions did you experience, acknowledge, and consciously work through deciding how you wanted to proceed? Did being conscious of the emotion and of your ability to choose help you make a better choice? I pray so. I pray you get even better at this process in the days to come.

Imagine putting on a pair of glasses that have purple lenses. How would you see the world? Now imagine the glasses have orange lenses. How would you see the world? Let’s imagine that the lenses block out everything that is colored blue. How would you see the world around you? Well, you would see the world according to the lenses in front of your eyes. Would your eyes receive the complete picture? Would you enjoy seeing everything purple or orange? Would you enjoy not being able to see the blue of the sky or of your child’s eyes? I’m guessing the answer to all of those questions would be a firm NO.

The lenses of those glasses are very similar to a person’s perspective. Perspective means how one views the world. Perspective also heavily influences how that person will perceive the world. Perception is how one will understand or interpret situations, events, words, and even relational interactions. So, if my lens (perspective) is purple, I will understand or interpret (perceive) everything around me as being some variation of purple.

How does this relate to the mind, body, and spirit? Well, if I believe (perspective) that the world is a hostile place and to be avoided, then I will see (perceive) everything about the world as hostile and to be avoided. Even the good will be perceived or interpreted as hostile. What does one do when one believes the world is hostile and should be avoided? That person will isolate and usually be in fear regarding all things in the world. What I believe (perspective) in my mind, will cause me to interpret (perceive) all information according to that belief. I will then act out of that interpretation.

I have a friend who believes (perspective) that most people have good within them and should be given the benefit of the doubt in situations. Therefore, she sees (perceives) good even in people that other people can’t see as having any good. Out of this perception, she relates to others expecting good from them, seeking that good, and even acknowledging their good, to them and to others. Her lenses toward people are lenses of “good”. Another friend was bit by a dog as a child. Out of that experience she came to believe (perspective) that all dogs are bad. So, when she sees a dog, she reacts out of that belief and fear. She will do all she can to avoid the dog. Her lenses (perception) toward dogs are lenses of “bad, must avoid”. (ultimately fear)

If a woman believes (perspective) that she does not have worth, that she is not esteemed and valued, her lenses (perspective) will be “low self-worth”. She will be looking for and expecting everything to prove herself to be “less” than others (perception), or as an opportunity to “prove” her worth. If a man believes (perspective) others always receive better things, opportunities, relationships, situations, etc.. than he does, he will perceive all around him with lenses of “envy.” Even the good he receives will not be interpreted as good, but as not good enough. He will be looking for and expecting others to have “more” or “better” than he (perception).

If a child has experienced numerous rejections in his life, he will believe (perspective) that everyone will eventually reject him. Therefore, he will interpret (perceive) all words, situations, and interactions with others as some form of rejection. Even when the situation, words, or interactions have nothing to do with him, he will be looking for and expecting to be rejected. If a woman has learned through experiences (or lies) that men cannot be trusted, even a kind man who is truly interested in her will be mistrusted. She will be looking for and expecting a reason to mistrust that man.

What we build into the non-conscious becomes our perspective. That perspective will influence how we interpret (perceive) all information we receive and all situations in our lives. It will influence how we choose to speak, live, behave, and even relate to others. This obviously can lead to faulty interpretations and greatly affect relations with God, with self, and with others. We need to have lenses formed by God and His word. Otherwise, we will see all the world, including God and ourselves, as something false.

What lenses (perspective) have you been wearing and using to interpret (perceive) the things around you? How have those lenses failed you? What false interpretations did you receive? How did that affect your life, beliefs, and relationships with God and others? Praise Yah we can change those lenses!

I hope you will take the time this week to evaluate your perspectives and how they have or have not served you well. I hope you will pick out the ones that need to be changed and start washing those lenses with the Word of God.

Until next time..

“There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.” Proverb 30:12