Wednesday, April 29, 2009

EYE

S. Hipps writes:


In the late 90's, the Magic Eye trend swept the country. These Magic Eye posters were stereograms - two-dimensional images that gave the illusion of three-dimensions. On the surface, they seemed to be meaningless, repetitive patterns of shapes, letters or colors; but each picture contained a hidden message. By focusing intently, a viewer could see the magical appearance of an image that seemed to leap out into space.




That's a Magic Eye sample above - which you probably can't make out on this blog - but if you COULD make it out and you looked at it intently for a couple of minutes, what would 'rise from the ashes' and appear to stand out on top of the other letters is the message: "Stop wasting your life" and "Get a life." Nice, huh?


The Magic Eye has something in common with us. In order for their hidden messages to be seen, they need to be viewed in unconventional ways. Our eye has to be trained to focus beyond the ordinary surface for something deeper. It takes some 'practice,' but when we accomplish it, we'll be much closer to seeing things as they truly are.


The forms of Christianity change as people change. If they didn't, we'd all be reading the Bible in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek today. The same debate is alive and well in 2009. Take media, for instance. It's neither good nor bad as a vehicle. It is just a pipeline - a conduit - to channel information ... newspapers, television, radio, internet, email, etc. Like the plumbing in your house - it carries water from one place to the next. Not glorious. Not particularly evil. The pipes don't much matter unless they spring a leak or freeze up. The logic is simple, but that doesn't make it more accepted, unfortunately.

Here's another one. Come right up and touch your nose to the center of the image. Check to make sure your co-workers or family aren't watching you right now. The image should be blurry. Focus as though you are looking through the image into the distance. Now, very slowly move back from the image until the two squares above the image turn into three squares. If you see four squares, move back farther yet until you see three squares. If you see one or two squares, start over! Then ... when you clearly see three squares, the hidden image will appear. Once you perceive the hidden image, you can look around the entire 3D picture. The longer you look, the clearer the illusion becomes. The farther away you hold the page, the deeper it becomes. Have fun.

PS -- I hereby disavow any responsibility for headaches or emotional trauma as a result of participating in this exercise.


And be blessed.

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