Do you remember the controversy?
You know… That dress color controversy?
Some saw it one color and others saw it a different color. It made a viral trip around the globe with every news agency wondering about the true color, and how everyone saw it differently.
Even a recording of a word can be heard to say one thing to some, another thing to others, and even a few can make out both words from the same sound. It’s weird how one thing looks or sounds to another, and totally different to your own senses.
I have experienced the same issue with photographs taken with my iPhone. Modern cameras are driven by computer chips and programming, add in a unique lens, and the natural shading of sun and shadows, then the end result of any picture taken can look different than what is seen with the natural eye.
I took a photo from one of the recently painted rooms in our house. I’m always snapping pictures of shapes and patterns to use for future blog postings, and a recent one caught my eye.
Do you see what I see? Two shades of colors meeting at a straight line. Essentially the edge between a wall and ceiling. However, the entire room is painted a single color! I checked the room for lighting (natural and man-made) and there were shadows flitting about the room. But every picture I took of this one spot remained the same.
Two colors that meet at the edge of the wall and ceiling…
But they are one color. The darker one.
The past few days I have been reminded that we each see the world shaded by our own personal lens. The lens that is created by our past, along with our thinking process controls our forward motion of life.
Each of us see the same situation through our own perspective.
Late last night I glanced at the dark sky as I prepared to go into the house. I always look for satellites hidden among the stars. You have to be willing to see movement and then follow it quickly. Is it a plane? Are there flashing navigational lights? Is it making movements or turns? UFO? Superman?
It all depends on your perspective and thinking process. Our imaginations fill in the gaps of what we see. Some see the glass half full, others half empty. Some experience laughter, while others weep.
Here’s my thought today. We see things from “who” we are, and not just from “where” we are. Solomon said, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) and this gives credence to the idea that we see what we want to see. We are what we think we are. In other words, we are our own worst enemy or best friend!
In the Love Chapter, the Apostle Paul sums up his definition of love with this phrase:
“When I was a child,
I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man,
I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part;
then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
(1 Corinthians 13:11-13 ESV)
Children see, speak and think as children do. Adults no longer act like children, or at least they shouldn’t! What we were is who we become, but along the path of life, you can adjust the final outcome. Think about it. What we see today is based upon our position in life.
What is your perspective today? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you see the possibilities, or do you always see the difficulties?
I know the personality I want to hang out with!
Audio Version: Listen to “Episode 188 – From Your Perspective” on Spreaker.