Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Different Perceptions

Occasionally when I’m singing a song along with the player piano, I’m just astonished at how good a singer I am. I can hear and feel the force of God singing through me, but every so often I get a chance to hear how I sound to the world, not to God and me, and I’m always appalled at how badly I can sound, especially when I’m trying to record on an inferior instrument. I think that’s the way it is in this world. Each of us experiences the world through his own filtering system, and through what God is doing in us, and we don’t understand why the world reacts the way it does to us. For example, “God, why was he offended by what I said? I meant it as a compliment.” “Why didn’t my boss like this proposal? It’s great. Why can’t they see it?”

There’s that “why” question again, and the answer to those kinds of questions usually is that we don’t perceive the world the way others do. No two of us perceives or experiences the world exactly the same, which is why there’s so much conflict in the world. Very few people are able to step outside their own experiences and into the lives of others and understand why they’re behaving and responding the way they are. That’s a rare gift, and even to those who have it, I don’t think it becomes fully formed until near the end of the journey.

In the classroom, I would have two kids sit on opposite sides of a penny and describe to the class what they were seeing. It was great to see that little light go one with some of the kids. “Oh, yeah. They’re both looking at the same penny, but they’re seeing different sides of it. Duh!” If we could only see the other side, what other people are seeing.

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