You Can’t Unsee It.

‘IMPRINTING’ describes what happens to birds when they first hatch.  Their minds are particularly fresh, like camera film that has never seen the light.  So if their first moments are with their mother, the chicks are drawn to her instantly. But if their first moments are with someone else—a scientist, perhaps—they may be drawn to him.  There is a film showing baby ducklings following an Austrian scientist around—because his image was “imprinted” on their brains when they hatched.

Human brains are likewise impressionable.  We are drawn to things we see.  And the younger we are—the stronger the attraction.  Why? Because there is so little in our personal history to compete.  If I look at candy in the grocery store, I can summon 50 years of junk food memories to shake off the temptation.  But when a tiny child sees candy, her experience provides much less perspective. 

(1) What we see entices and influences us.  And (2) it impacts us more powerfully in our youth.  And (3) repeated viewings for many hours draw us more powerfully than a single viewing that is very brief.  It adds up.  And finally, (4) YOU CAN’T UNSEE IT. Researchers say that what you see stays in your mind forever.  The question is whether you will be able to summon the memory at will.  Perhaps not.  Yet new events often call to mind forgotten memories.  You never know when things you wanted to forget will come back to you. What you put into your head has consequences. King David understood this:

“I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.  I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me!” Psalm 101:3.

Let me challenge you.  Yes, avoid the super-bad, horrible, evil, disgusting, satanic, and immoral.  But let’s also protect our minds from things that are mild, even morally neutral, but simply worthless.  Why waste your time?

Dear God, speak to us.  Give us insight. Help us not to put anything worthless before our eyes. Show us if there are things we should give up.

ΑΩ