Things Are As They Seem

Conspiracy theorists claim that things are not as they seem. That’s just how things seem to conspiracy theorists! For me, things are very much how they seem to me; just like the conspiracy theorists; only different!

In the movie, A Beautiful Mind, the character representing John Nash lives a private fantasy which is ruining his marriage and career, but it seems so real to him. Eventually he rejects his previous personal reality because of a logical inconsistency in his ‘virtual-mind’ world. Having accepted a NEW perception, it now seems real to him, but he no longer fully trust himself; he submits part of his perceived reality to a corporate ‘reality check’. Wise man!

Things really are for us what they seem to us. It shows significant humility to consider other people’s contrary perceptions. There is huge humility in adjusting one’s behavior to match other people’s perception of reality. The John Nash character was not able to refuse his own delusion until he saw a problem within his own weird perception of reality. If the contradiction within his weird reality had not shown up, I doubt that he would ever have come out of his delusion. The rest of society would have grabbed him… and locked him up.

My wife Joy & I coined the phrase ‘social truth’ when we started living in Africa. People believe things and they act on those beliefs. What do they believe? Things they’ve seen, things they’ve heard and things they’ve felt! The ‘truth’ that Joy & I knew was different from the ‘truth’ our African neighbors knew. My sister, Luise, says that perceptions lead to actions in life and those are the social realities and truths that we live with and within. Want to know what kind of truth a particular life is based on? Look around and see what the actions which come from those beliefs have produced. The physical objects and social structures & relationships of a culture represent the evidence of the culture’s worldview. The book of James in the Bible talks about this in terms of faith and works.

Concerning our mission work in Africa, what might this imply? How can we give people new life experiences before their old life circumstances have changed?

Media in the form of music, film, etc… engages sight, hearing and emotions (just like in non-media life) and so people can form new values and ‘truths’ that can begin to function as a new worldview. Pamoja Ministries is discipling cultures through media. I invite you to participate with us! Let’s give people a chance to experience a better truth.