Ant Brain Much?

—Image credit: Pat Tobin (@tastefactory)

It’s kinda mind-blowing how wrong I can be sometimes when I think about it.

I mean, I don’t have to think very hard to remember things in my life that I just knew I solidly understood, with zero doubt or room for error.

Only to discover, it turns out, that I’m slightly off, or maybe even straight-up wrong about the whole thing.

• Faith: In childhood, I knew that I was lucky enough to be born into a family who’s faith and values really hit the TRUTH nail squarely on the head, and sadly most other people just aren’t quite “there” yet. (#blessed)
• Food: Obviously low fat “diet” foods are always a healthier choice, and artificial sweeteners are way healthier than actual sugar. (pass me some pink cancer packets please?)
• Fun: Star Wars & Trek are some pretty sweet Sci-Fi… but in real life, NASA, sciencey books and pretty much everyone knows that not a planet in the universe could even support life, due to the crazy-remote odds of our own earth being in the “Goldilocks Zone” of our sun. (3,700+ exoplanets confirmed so far since the 90s, and turns out those in the “habitable zone” are common.)

I could keep going with a laundry list of truthy myths busted and paradigms shifted…

But we all have those things in life, don’t we? Hardcore beliefs that we have the highest certainty are correct, and telling ourselves…

• “You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to understand A=B and B=C, so A=C…”
• “Everyone knows this is true, it’s just an obvious fact—it’s a given…”
• “I’m no rocket scientist, but even I can understand X and Y are bad and Z is good…”

…Only to find out that we were unfortunately mistaken—maybe even straight-up wrong—in our categorical belief.

Let me be clear: I’m not claiming that there is no absolute truth—there definitely is.

I’m just saying that it’s impressive to me how frequently we can find ourselves sorely mistaken in some solid belief or paradigm that we feel absolutely convinced about.

But, it’s not my fault, right?

Because we just don’t know what we don’t know. You can only play (i) the hand you’re dealt, (ii) based on the cards you already know are in the deck, and (iii) based on the rules as you understand them, right?

But what if you don’t know all the rules? What if there are cards in the deck that you’ve never seen or even imagined before?

How might that effect the game you’re playing?

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” —Wayne Dyer

Words this morning that came to me as I mulled this over:

I only share them in case they resonate or reflect in some way in your own story…

Help me to not be so convinced or limited by my own perspective that I miss yours, Lord.

Let me not make the silly mistake of assuming that only what I can clearly see or conceive must be truth—it must be the correct perspective. Let me not be so limited by my own interpretations of events or the meanings I give to things in my life, that I deny myself seeing or experiencing your truer, deeper meanings for them.

In truth: You are the master artist—the maestro composing & conducting this masterpiece; the grand architect of your own unparalleled creation.

And to believe that I could possibly see and understand the intricate connections and deepest meanings of your highest work, or full grasp the vast scope and nuances of your epic designs… well, that’s really pretty dang funny when I actually think about it that way.

And yet, that’s exactly the prideful surety with which I try to live most days, isn’t it?

Meet: Ant Brain…

• Can I teach a dog algebra?
• Can a cat learn Spanish?
• Can a newborn really understand that they’re not about to die every time they’re hungry or startled by a sudden noise?
• Can a tiny ant understand anything about politics, thermodynamics or space-time?

Of course not. Silliness.

They’re not stupid for the creatures they are.

But their brains aren’t capable of understanding these things. It’s not their fault.

Then why do we humans tend to think so much more of ourselves in comparison to you and your ways, Lord? Why do we make the small-minded assumption that in order for something to be real or true, we must be able to understand it first, with our tiny ant brains?

And being completely honest, any of us can remember a time in which something seemed so real or true, but turned out to be very different in the end that first believed. But that’s understandable, right?

We’re not stupid for creatures that we are either.

Our brains just aren’t capable of understanding things sometimes. We just don’t have all the information or know all the cards in the deck sometimes—we don’t see the whole picture or have the whole perspective.

• But what if we never get to see the whole picture or how all the dots connect?
• Does that make it untrue?
• Are we somehow entitled to understand something in order for it to be true?

This is the great self-deception: Assuming, with great certainty, that with this single brush stroke in front of us (our specific circumstances on any given day), we must be able to understand the full work of art, and see how it all connects and works together for our ultimate good and your ultimate glory.

Wow.

I don’t want to be that self-absorbed. That prideful. That delusional.

—Image credit: Pat Tobin (@tastefactory)

Truth Matters (and isn’t determined by my perspective)

May I always be humbly mindful of this, Lord—that my own perspective is always limited by my own perception of a thing, which is wholly shaped by:

1. my current trajectory,
2. my ant-brain’s ability to comprehend, and
3. the puzzle pieces visible immediately around me.

I’m basically a speck of paint on your grand masterpiece, and you are the master artist.

I’m a single bolt in this grand and beautifully complex machine you’ve crafted, but you are the masterful engineer and operator.

You see infinitely more than I can see, understand or even imagine. And what a privilege and honor it is to be a part of your masterpiece!

Let me always frame anything I think I know in life with sincere humility from this frame of mind. And trusting in the sovereign goodness of the One who masterfully crafted it all.

—Memento Mori, Memento Aeternum

PS—Curious about the fun images? It’s amazing what you can find on the Googles, including the delightfully clever Twitter escapades of one man’s attempts to entice invading ants into his poison traps. 🙂