uncertainty and #thedress

Last week's social media was dominated by a discussion of a dress that some people saw as white and gold, while others saw the same dress as blue and black. After the partisan fights have been fought and the dust has settled, we are left with some people incredulous that this got any attention at all, and others entranced by how interesting it is that something so simple can cause such a controversy. I find myself in the latter group. I don't think this debate is at all about the colors of a dress but rather how two people can see things differently and have both of them be absolutely correct ... sort of.

http://www.bgr.in/news/thedress-breaks-the-internet-which-color-is-it-really/

First of all, let me say I personally see #thedress as white and gold but I am well aware it is blue and black in real life. I have (don't judge me) tried to stare at the picture long enough to convince myself that I can't force my brain to see it as blue and black. This is different from other optical illusions which can only be seen one way at a time, but with some mental gymnastics the brain can be convinced to see it the other way. Therefore, there are two kinds of illusions: 1) fixed illusions that your brain is hard wired to see only one way, and 2) flexible illusions that you can only see one way at a time but you can bounce back and forth from one illusion to another. How does one even know that there is an illusion in the first place and then subsequently discern which type of illusion it is? Is it through someone else's advice or based on our own experience?

Most of us would not figure out that there is an illusion until someone points it out. One person looking at #thedress and saying it is white and gold is not a controversy. Even if that person later finds out the dress is really blue and black they will just say "oh it must have been the lighting or the exposure or the way the photo was processed." It's not until the second person looks at the same picture and says they see it differently that the first person questions her sanity and wonders "is the other person right, am I seeing things?" So the first person then starts to investigate and see why there is a discrepancy and figure out if there is an underlying truth. 

In our spiritual lives, there are many illusions. Some of these are fixed and others are flexible, but we as Christians believe that there is Truth behind every illusion. We do not claim to see this Truth perfectly, but rather see it dimly, for now, until we see our Creator face to Face (1 Cor 13:12). Until then we rely on the Wisdom of the Church to point out these illusions to us so that we can go out and see the Truth for ourselves. We are not (or at least should not) be asked to follow blindly. We should never hear "I don't care what you think you see, that dress is blue and black!" Rather, we should be told "I know that dress looks white and gold - I see it with my physical eyes the same way that you do - but I can tell you that behind the illusion there is a different reality." 

The most common complaint against Christianity is "how can you be so smug and sure that you are so right?" The irony is that true Christianity is apophatic, meaning we are quite comfortable saying that, while we are in this world, we will never know everything there is to know. What we do say we know about our relationship to God is experiential, reproducible and paradoxical. It is experiential in that In order to "see it" one must first try to experience God. If we do not seek a personal relationship with Him then there is no Christianity. It is reproducible in that God has promised that anyone who truly seeks Him will find Him, and this has been my personal experience that the genuine seeker of God is not disappointed. Finally it is paradoxical in that the Way does not always (in fact often does not) make rational sense. We become fools so that we may become wise. We accept blindness so we can see. Finally, we choose to die with Christ so we can live. If we have nobody to tell us there is a paradox then how are we to figure that out on our own? 

I love this dress controversy because it reinforces my discomfort with any absolute certainty. Anyone who appears to be sure of anything I think should be suspect even if you happen to agree with their point of view. By no means am I saying we should not have conviction. I am saying that we should say "I am sure that I see the dress as white and gold" and be open to correction if others have a different interpretation. If after hearing the other viewpoint we still feel the same way then we can go on in our conviction and maybe even a little more convinced, having weathered another storm of doubt. In the end, all will be made clear, and "the last will be first and the first will be last" (Matthew 20:16).