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May my life–despite myself–reflect back into His Name! May it be a radiant whisper into the universe of who He is. That is my highest desire. I always wanted to be a receptor and reflector of God. That is from very young. I thought–what this world needs is true mica–something that unexpectedly shines in the darker places. When all looks like a coal mine, i wanted to be that one shimmer. That is my heart. May it be so, in Jesus Name. Amen

“Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am known.” I Cor 13:12

We are seen by God. And as we join in His Perception, we start to see ourselves, others, our cities and nations as He sees them.

“When you look at the world, what is it that you see?” Bono asks.

God’s perception is higher in form and manner than ours. How He sees things, is
much more multilayered simultaneously. He beholds whole sagas instantly.
He sees things as whole, through His Son. His Son is like His lens. He
shares His Perceptions through His Spirit. So a real ongoing
relationship with The Holy Spirit is essential for a true artist or true Seer.
(I invite The Spirit to come for this clarity of perception. So we
can see clearly).

Yes, we see in part, but we can certainly see much more clearly, for the Holy Spirit brings clarity of vision. The Spirit is a clarifying agent, allowing us to see more purely what is. Through this Spirit we can see more clearly ourselves. For this is part of the role or task of the Spirit to guide us into all truth, including the truth about ourselves. Self insight comes through the Holy Spirit. He guides us into a true sight or vision of ourselves!

This perception-His- brings
healing and deliverance!  Healing is when we see that we have not seen correctly, and we are convicted of our false vision. Deliverance is when the old is displaced by the new Life in Him–including how we see ourselves, others, and the world. We are delivered from the false into the true Perception.

The displacement of our old visions of ourselves is a type of perceptual deliverance. The healing comes as we reconcile our own versions of our lives, with His Perception of who we are. The disparity between our True Image and how we see and thus treat ourselves is the grief of becoming…

To enter God’s Perception of ourselves is to firstly be in pain, at how we have lived as if it were not true. (Again, the Spirit guides us into all truth-starting with the truth about ourselves!) Then we are delivered from these false, or simple “soul-versions” of our own movie, into His eternally magnificent version of who we are, through His Son. We are the brothers and sister of Jesus after all, and what we will become, has not yet fully been revealed. What a wonder each of us is. What a grand poem which God hand wrote in the ink of His Own Blood. We must receive His Perception of ourselves, because it is whole; and move towards the incarnation of this poem of His.

How He sees, is higher than us. His Perception is of another manner. He offers us vistas, leading towards the “face to face” vision.

Seeing it complete and whole and acting towards that vision is a key.

The action towards our becoming whole, is oriented by His Perception. You see it, then you can do it. Vision motivates fuller incarnation!  Throughout scripture, God asked the prophets to see it first, envision it, then, in Him, become it!
If you can’t see it as it truly is, it’s hard to move and act towards it.This is the gift of His Vision to us. How God ministers into and through the imagination! God will first show you how it will be, then we can transform towards this image!  If we cannot visualize our true image of ourselves, we will struggle to move in the steadfast direction towards the incarnation of that full person we are, the one Christ died for.

In short, we need to see who we are, in order to be motivated to become it. He shows us glimpses of who we are, so we can move towards that wholeness. He does not move without first revealing where He is shuttering us towards.
We see a person in/by the Spirit, then we guide that vision into
incarnation. That’s discipleship through His Perception. It’s one way
into True Self which is in Christ. We are what we see through His
Eyes. Let’s start becoming that!

(Pondering, after seeing Marc Chagall’s chapel in Nice, France. What a nice closing prayer to his life–especially the piano, with ascending prophets seen, only as you open it, and it is played–their words came alive as the vibration of the chords were struck! Felt true).

When I see pieces like these, i think ok, there, is an imagination in dialogue. That artist started to enter the “thou” , or soul or being of that subject, and had his or her own language developed enough to enter a saturated conversation.

I like overhearing or overseeing such instances. And when we do, something in us gets awakened to the potential contours of a single dialogue or conversation. There are so many levels to each instant-as the post-impressionist taught us. One sunset is worth a thousand meditations-and uniquely nuanced pondering of the same passing instant.

But then, when an artist turns to the universal and transcendent stories of scripture, and is able to move from the distance of illustration into a direct conversation with the spirit of the thing, you just sense it and know it, and are overwhelmed, by the depth of encounter. The artist pondering the word, symbolizes the human pondering God. And that is a majestically simple but profound sign of who we are as humans.

What is interesting is that you barely notice the technique at that point. The mature artist’s technical skills become concealed or in service to the dialogue with his or her subject. That is not to say technique or medium doesn’t matter, it is as if it is, in the matured artist, hidden from sight, and in service to the higher conversation between the artist and subject. It becomes an act of sheer beholding.

That type of art, signals and even compels one to enter the exchange. This is not just self expression, but self to self interchange; wherein, the I-Thou encounter starts to form a mid-air and mid-medium dance of being. Some portraits are like this, where the true identity of the subject is so honorably beheld, and so tenderly deep, that you feel as if you have met that person, or subject on some level. I have been there, i have seen that field, i have smelled those autumn fields. I have looked into those eyes.

With others you feel the violation or projective seeing. Then you are primarily looking at the artist’s wounds, and how it sees Reality. That is more like reading an autobiography, I think. But, I am most interested in pieces where this level of communion between seer and seen occurs.

Identity beholding identity is the stuff of true communion.

There is a teaching of perceiving itself in great art. How to see unseen layers of meaning in the subject. To see that there is more to even each instant than we imagined; that a simple evening cafe scene can become a universal metaphor of humanity trying to find evening’s sabbath, is one of the gifts of the artist. There is more than immediately meets the eye. Reality is complex and nuanced. And great art makes a portion of that complexity visible to the naked eye.

Even our own act at looking at art, is about us watching perception itself trying to say, this is what I saw. Not all of what I saw, but the part I could translate. That’s art.

I like beholding people on this level of being; other artist, like landscapes, or animals, color itself, texture, patterns. Regardless of what is beheld, it is the act of beholding-and its depth-that we are looking at when we view art.

What of the artist’s being was risked in the gaze? To the degree that it cost the gazer in them, the art is profound. To the degree that we perceive, we engage in the mysticism of seeing. Perhaps, we can only see to the degree that we are seen. Or perhaps, we are trying to see in order to be seen, as in the case of some artist. Either way, the radiance of resonance in a piece of art, has to do with the depth of sight and exchange between who is seeing and what is seen. That is the I-Thou opportunity in art making.

The power of true perception is underrated in terms of the healing of our own eyes or our deeper “I” through which we interpret even ourselves. In this sense, looking at art is truly healing. It is a particular brand of healing, but there is this cleansing of perception which osmotically occurs in beholding great art. This is not a cultural thing. It is a human need. For when we see someone seeing truly, we ourselves are somehow healed.

The plank teaching…

God gave me this week, from Jesus teaching about removing the plank in our own eye (way of seeing or perceiving), before removing the speck in our brother or sister’s eye. We are allowed to remove the plank in our own eye–we are allowed to judge ourselves at a “plank” level–deep insights into our own sin and blocks, and false vision–even areas where we see falsely because we could not see ourselves; and YET, even when it is removed, we are only allowed to remove specks in other’s eyes.

There is a word here about judgement and its laws or how it works. Jesus said, first remove this plank in your own eye, which He will give you insight to do; then you will be able to remove specks in other’s eyes. Judgment begins with ourselves, and His Pleasure is to remove entire planks in our sight and eyes. And then to allow us to help others remove specks in theirs.

Often we reverse this, and try to remove planks in others eyes and specks in our own. But His Way is to allow us to remove huge blocks in our own lives, and then maybe to remove some small blocks in other’s lives. It is God’s way to begin in us, whatever we minister outwards to others. We can only help others to the degree we have allowed Him to form this area of Himself  in us. Our first job is always to judge our own house, and to allow Him to give us self discernment; then if He desires, He may allow us to minister this outwards to others.

This “plank” level means we are given Grace to remove huge sins and blocks in our own lives, and then if He wishes, to help others remove specks in theirs. It’s not that we can’t help others move large stones in their lives, but we start with allowing Him to roll away our own stones, and then if He allows us to help other’s with theirs, fantastic!

But judge ourselves first. Come humbly and correct ourselves, so that He will not have to remove that plank as He did with Paul. It is painful to go entirely blind. He would desire that we remove our own planks in His Power-rather than Him having to yank them out. And then, as He is formed in that area, to be helpful in ministering that part of Him to others!

Another hope point in this, is that Paul continues to remove quite a few specks in the church’s lens throughout her history! So once, that plank was removed, there was a humility and grace to truly serve the whole, and the church got a ravishing and accurate vision of her future!