Estimated Reading Time = 5 minutes
A Right Perspective Needs a Good Anchor
What determines how you view the world? Do you have a filter that may alter what you see and prevent you from seeing things clearly? With all the information we’re bombarded with every day, how do you decide who or what to believe? Or, have you just given up?
What Formed YOUR Perspective?
Why do I ask? Because there’s a hierarchy to how you process information that has been determined even before you were born. It begins in the womb, where our genetic code will make the first decisions regarding who we are and how we will perceive the world. Next, the environment we “pop” into will shape us and often impact us much more than we give it credit. At some point in our life, we convince ourselves that we have taken over the “driver’s seat” of our lives and, to one extent or another, we now believe we’re making our own decisions. Is that how it went for you? Do you feel like you are in control of what you believe and how you process the information from which you make decisions?
I bring this up because our belief systems are greatly influenced by how we process information and what we decide to do with it. It determines our perspective, and it’s much more complicated than just genetics or upbringing. Perspective is shaped by family traditions (“That’s the way we always did it!) It is shaped by our friends (“If it feels good, do it!) And it is also shaped by the society you live in (“Do it our way, or be punished, ostracized, or canceled!”)
The Impact of Your Subconscious Tapes
Let me point out a major problem with our perspective that not all of us may fully understand. Our view, contrary to what we might want to believe, is not only driven by ourselves, but it is driven by hundreds of subconscious tapes playing in your mind that whisper (and sometimes shout) instructions to your brain, guiding how you see, interpret, and judge the world around you. They are a compilation of everything you are (genetically), and everything you’ve experienced. These tapes are often activated by “triggers” that we aren’t even aware of, and they most certainly can affect how we think. Ultimately, these tapes influence how you define “what is truth,” and (whether you’re aware of it or not), they affect your decisions, beliefs, and emotions. Collectively, they determine who you become, and unless you’re aware of these influences, the “YOU” that emerges might not be the “YOU” you intended.
One way we cope with all these tapes is to develop a pre-filter (bias) that determines how we “see” and process the world. This pre-filter may be determined consciously or subconsciously, but it is there. For example, some of us prefer not to deal with what the world throws at us, so we try to block out as much of the input as possible, thus creating what might be called a “blind” perspective. Others may take the attitude that “it’s all about me,” and hence be accused of having a “selfish” perspective. You get the idea. So, what does a person do? It seems like developing an honest, unsullied pre-filter on the world might be “Mission Impossible.”
A Safe Place to Find “Rest for Your Soul”
Well, as you might expect, I believe that the Bible has something to say on the subject. Apparently, confusion about our perspective was “a thing” even during the time of Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote about it in his first book to the Corinthians:
For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God]. 1 Corinthians 13:12 AMPC
Paul understood that trying to filter out the “bad” to get to the “good” was like trying to see your reflection in a poor-quality mirror – the image is, at best, blurred. But Paul gives us hope. On the one hand, at some time in the future, “I shall know and understand fully and clearly.” Yet, even now (in the present), “I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].” The message is: Seek God to know the truth about YOU. He (God) can help you neutralize your pre-filters and help you see yourself (and the world) as God sees it.
Then, if you approach God in this way, you’ll discover another wonderful truth:
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
When we begin to see what God has planned for us, our perspective changes. Suddenly, we have a way to break through all our pre-filters. When we view the world from the perspective that “God is in control,” the sun comes out, and our future looks bright!
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