On first glance at this photo, it seems like Anth is peeing in someone's bag!
It illustrates beautifully how the angle from which you view a thing will determine your perception of that thing.
"The angle from which you view something will determine your perception of that thing. That's the problem with a single point of view."
Poppy and Branch saw life from different angles and their different perspectives led them to different perceptions.
Perspective is the science of optics: How you see and where you see from.
Perception is our understanding or the meaning we impose on a situation.
Our perspective determines our perception.
So, if we want our perception to change, we need to change our perspective.
"Where you are looking from is more important than what you are looking at."
A few weeks back, in The Dangers of Isms - Pt 3 - The Search for Meaning ,we explored the Minimalist art form of the white canvases, and discovered the phrase "What you see, is what you see". What each person sees in the seemingly blank artwork is reflective of their perception of the picture on the canvas of their own life. This is influenced by the many things that have formed their perspective.
What is it you're looking at in life?
Bear in mind that if you try to change what you're looking at, rather than where you're looking at it from, you'll never fix what's really going on.
What would happen if you could approach the issues you're looking at in life without the influences of your current perspective? Anth shares how his perception of The Bible has been transformed as he's looked at it from a different angle.
Perspective is to do with what you see, your point of view. Perception is to do with the meaning you attach to what you see.
This in turn may well determine your whole attitude to life and the level of joy and contentment experienced.
Poppy and Branch see the same world very differently!
Are you the kind of person who sees the glass as half full or half empty?
Once again, our perspective influences our perception!
We can look at the glass from the side, above or below and get different perspectives on the amount of water present, but what we really mean when using this analogy is "How do you see life?" Different people can look at the same situation and draw completely different conclusions. Do you see problems or opportunities?
In the ancient story of the prophet, Elisha, he is surrounded by an army looking to capture him. His servant anxiously asks "Oh my Lord, what shall we do?!" But Elisha has a different perspective, and prays "Oh Lord, open his eyes so that he may see." The servant suddenly gets a new perspective and sees the whole situation differently from that moment.
"Take a look around and see the world we think we know...and then look closer."
In this song, Poppy engages an attitude of faith. No matter what goes wrong, she's determined to see things through a lens of hope.
"If you knock me over, I will get back up again!"
Life can seem hopeless when we view the challenges we're facing as Permanent, Pervasive (Affecting everything) and Personal.
A change of perspective may require us to go beyond the beliefs that we've formed about life, about ourselves and about others and see things differently through a lens of faith.
The word Gospel means "Good News."
When facing the realities of life, we all need some Good News that helps us see past our realities, to see the possibilities that can be found beyond them.
"Faith is an inner conviction that all will be well."
When we engage an attitude of faith, we swap the 3 P's of Hopelessness (Permanent, Pervasive and Personal) for the 3 P's of Faith: Peace, Presence and Purpose, and instead see our circumstances as passing, contained and purposeful.
Faith is the perception formed by "The Cross Perspective."
The Cross Perspective is defined by the last 3 words Jesus declared as he was crucified: "It is finished." This was not an acknowledgment of defeat, but a statement of faith, that all that needed to be done, had been done.
There is a huge difference between Faith and Belief. Faith invites us to go beyond the beliefs we hold that shape our perspective, to see the world in a whole new way.
Are you ready to change your perspective?
If you can change your perspective, it will change how you perceive everything.
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