Seeing and Believing

We often say that “seeing IS believing” but that’s not quite true.  I read a brief newsletter article from Scientific American this week (1/27) with the headline, “How video footage messes with our brain.”  It led with the question, “How can different people watch the same video footage and yet see such vastly different things? … ‘Seeing is not just what our eyes physically see,’ says Sandra Ristovska, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, ‘but also the experiences and ideas that viewers bring to images.’”  The article then outlines different biases that influence how we interpret them—like camera perspective, selective attention, personal beliefs, etc.  It then ends with a quote from a law professor, “People intuitively tend to believe that video gives them the objective reality of what it depicts.  This is naive realism.”

            I watched two videos of Alex Pretti’s shooting by ICE agents.  Like a lot of people, I am very much against ICE’s tactics and the administration’s method of immigration enforcement—even though I do believe our system is broken.  The Scientific American article did not mention any of that, but the elephant is still in the room.  What the article did make me think about are the biases we ALL bring to what we “see” and “believe.”  What does this have to do with God, you might ask??

            Jesus in the Beatitudes this Sunday (Matt. 5:1-12) gives us a very counterintuitive world VIEW.  “Happy are they who mourn… happy are the meek… happy are the merciful… happy are the peace makers…”  I “see” the people Jesus describes and they don’t “look” happy or blessed to me.  I hear his promises for them and still don’t “see” how those promises are true according to what the world rewards.  Reading the Beatitudes, seeing is NOT believing.  Rather, believing shapes what we see.  How does Jesus’ world view shape what you see??  For me, that’s the Big Faith Question.  Will I believe him?  Will I follow him?  Will I see the world through HIS eyes?

Peace,

Pr. Christian