Spotting cows grazing out the car window while riding with my husband, I got excited! A rarity for sure.
Back then, an incurable eye disease didn’t allow me to actually see details like grazing cows, but I enjoyed viewing shadows out car windows anyway.
Beaming with pride, I quickly blurted out, “Honey, there are cows grazing out there.”
After a longer than normal silence, he spoke matter-of-factly, “There aren’t any cows.”
And the argument began. I knew what I saw and had no idea why he would disagree like that.
Finally, in an attempt to calm me, he pulled to the shoulder and backed up to the spot I made my discovery. The way the sun peeked through a clump of trees had made the shadows of the tree tops look like cows to me. I had been deceived by my own brain.
I wonder how many times we see things inaccurately. One can lose 80% of their vision without knowing it because the brain automatically fills in the parts. Scary, huh? But I’ve experienced it!
How Faulty Perceptions Occur
The day I discovered my cows really were trees, went against my thinking, but I finally realized my husband was right. It opened my eyes that many things I saw might not be what they appear to be. Not just for me, but for everyone.
Perceptions are formed when a stimulus sends a new awareness to our brain through our sensory processes. What our eyes see, ears hear, nose smells, touch tells, and even taste at times, works together to form a perception.
It could be real, altered, or completely false. They can affect our quality of life, causing unnecessary arguments, guilt, or even harm.
We shouldn’t be so quick to trust our perceptions. They are formed by:
*misperceptions from sight
* false information heard
* false beliefs or teachings
False Information
In my early teens, an accident where my brother was learning to swing a golf club at dusk landed me in the ER with a fractured skull, a cut nerve, and four stitches in the back of my head.
A series of eye exams two years later revealed a cyst on my retina, causing a large blind spot in my vision. The doctor shared a blow to the head might be the cause.
Perceiving it was his fault, the doctor’s report heaped guilt upon him.
Carrying guilt for three years, the diagnosis of my eye disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa, set him free. This disease was hereditary, and not the result of a head injury.
His perception had been wrong, because it was based on incomplete information. False information can be due to a lack of data or partial information, or a flat out lie.
False Beliefs and Teachings
As humans, we are quick to believe what we are told, especially by parents as children, by spouses after marrying, and even campaigning politicians when registered to vote. We then repeat the same false teaching.
Where do you glean your beliefs from?
- Professors and teachers
- News media from preferred channels
- Print and social media
- You Tubers
- Authors
- Talk-show hosts
- High profile preachers
- Entertainment and songs
- Bible
- commentaries
No one fact-checks what they hear from these sources before repeating.
Maybe we should. While not all misinformation is meant to lead people astray, it can be harmful nonetheless.
Moses successor, Joshua, learned this lesson the hard way.
After defeating Jericho mightily, Joshua’s confidence in God was high. He expected an easy victory at Ai. (Joshua 7)
Defeated, Joshua was shocked, confused, and even angry. He cried out to God, blaming Him for their loss.
God straightened him out.
Joshua had been unaware some Israelites had disobeyed God by stealing plunder at Jericho. Sin was in the camp and Israel lost God’s favor until God revealed what happened and how to fix it.
Are we like Joshua, unaware of what really goes on behind the scenes in our country, homes, businesses, and civic groups? Do we know the hearts of politicians trying to persuade us to vote for them? Do we know hidden agendas among schools or organizations?
Like Joshua, we need to take our complaints to the Lord, asking Him to reveal the truth and seek His perfect will. . . in all things.
Protect Yourself
Faulty perceptions can make us feel crazy, guilty, angry, yet are easy to buy into and pass on.
False perceptions harm us:
-family members appear lazy when they might not have been taught work ethic or said skills
* someone didn’t call you back so you get angry, when they never heard you
* your boss corrected you because they believed you could do better, but you thought they hated you
* your friend looked angry so you believed they were mad at you when they had just been called a name before you arrived
Awareness is the first step. Rarely are our perceptions correct, so take time to think about what you don’t know, may have missed, or seen / heard incorrectly.
Think outside the box and know:
1. People like to make themselves look good by adding to or taking away details influencing your perception, so don’t be easily influenced. Make them earn your trust.
2. Leaders and “experts” are no different. Leaders in the church or government, are still humans who perceive the world differently, and may withhold information or give false information to reach a goal. They are not gods. Always pray.
3. God is the Revealer of Truth when we pray, so we must do our best to rely on Him for every aspect of our life.
The old saying is, “You can only believe half of what you see and less of what you hear.”
© 2024, Jena Fellers. All rights reserved.
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