More on Perception

A few questions and requests for clarity came after last week’s article (http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2017/10/finally-real-choice.html). Also, I have something to add. So I will try again:

The body’s eyes report what it sees to the mind. It sees forms that have no meaning in themselves. So the universe of form is like a blank screen with regard to meaning.

Your mind always perceives inward. If you are in the Holy Spirit (Awareness of Truth in your mind) you know this and you see Real Perception, or what A Course in Miracles calls the “real world”. This is a Vision of Love or Light within. This inward Vision extends outward to the universe of form. This “colors” the way you see form, but you are aware of this. You do not have the illusion that how you see form comes from the forms the body’s eyes report. You know you are seeing your own mind.

In the ego (personal though system) you also always perceive only inward. However, you project your perceptions away onto the universe of form. Remember, projection is extension + denial. The same mechanism of extending from your mind occurs with the Holy Spirit and with the ego, only the ego denies that your perception comes from you. And your perceptions from the ego seem to give form meaning. It seems that form tells you what to think about form. You can learn that you project your perceptions, but that does not stop the projection. The ego always projects – that is simply how it works.

It is projection that makes it hard to see that the ego’s perception is just a perception. It seems as though its perception and form are one and the same. But they are not. You can forget about what the eyes report. It’s really not involved in your perception. (Notice that blind people also perceive though they do not have the body’s sight). You can learn to not trust the ego’s perceptions because the ego is false so its perceptions are false. You can turn your mind to Truth instead.

The practice I mentioned was sorting out fact from projection of meaning. For example, let’s say Bob hit Tom in the nose and Tom’s nose is bleeding. That is what the body’s eyes report. That is fact in form. But if I see or feel anything more about it I am perceiving. From the ego I will project meaning – right/wrong, good/bad. And that judgment will come from my own personal story and filters.

I know when I project meaning because I feel an emotional charge. If I am just observing I do not feel an emotional charge. My feelings come from the thoughts in my own mind, not from what happens in form. Once I sort out observable fact from my perception – projection of meaning – I can then deal with the thoughts I project where they occur – in my own mind.

The shift I wrote about last week was that I can deal now with the ego’s perceptions wholesale rather than piecemeal. Instead of dealing in specifics, I step back and recognize it is only a perception and since it comes from the ego I should not trust it. Since I recognize it as a perception I realize I have a choice in perception – I can turn to True Perception instead.

What I want to add is that you perceive what you believe is reality. Another way to say this is you perceive what you believe is true about you. So the perception that you accept as real reflects what you believe is true about you. If you believe the ego is true you will accept its perceptions. If you believe Truth is true you will accept Its Perceptions. As you transition from believing the ego is you, you must make the conscious choice to put its perceptions aside and choose Truth’s Perceptions instead.

Perception changes incrementally over time.  Except for those moments that I refer to as “higher miracles” you will not go from the ego’s perception directly to full-on Real Perception. The changes over time are a lot like when you get a prescription for your contacts or glasses changed. There’s a small period of adjustment and then you are in a “new normal” that you don’t even think about. It’s only looking back or in relation to others that you see that your perception has changed.

Often I’m asked, “So how do you see the world now?” That’s difficult for me to answer because I don’t see the world they mean – I see my own perception. I know the questioner is usually asking to know how I perceive form. They still think it’s about form and not about perception. If I say, “I don’t see the world” they think, “What, everything’s whited out for you? You don’t see people? You don’t see houses and cars and trees?” This body still reports those forms to this mind. But that is not my “world”. My world is my perception. It is within. And that is evolving toward True Perception all the time.

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Do you need help sorting out perception from fact so you can release painful perceptions? This is something I help my clients do. Email me at Liz@acimmentor.com to set up an appointment. Learn more at www.acimmentor.com.

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