Seeing

Apr 9

“A Course in Miracles” states that “Perception is the vehicle by which ignorance is brought to knowledge.”

Perception is the true source of behavior, not the behavior itself. If you want to understand the perception behind the behavior, just study the behavior. The behavior is always 100% in alignment with the perception that created it.

A person’s behavior is based on what that person “knows” about the situation…what that person believes about the situation and with great accuracy, it can be predicted that the information they have about the situation is based on their experiences. But true knowledge is not based on experience.

Simply put, if your experiences are dictating your behavior, then you are not in control. Your past is in control, making you out of control. But as I have stated before, knowledge is a state of being. Knowledge increases proportionately to the level of consciousness that is doing the perceiving. And I wish that I could advance something simpler than the one I am about to share with you but I can’t and there isn’t another way.

The knowledge that you are seeking is knowledge that cannot be gained through any other vehicle than the journey of self-realization. You have to learn to see yourself, the world, not from your training and conditioning, not from your experiences in your life, not from your sensory data that is being pumped into your brain, but through choice and because this new way of seeing the world is going to come through choice, it means that you can do it. It means that you are as capable of choosing to see things differently as anyone.

As you hear, you answer but most of the time that’s very unconscious, it’s just a reaction. As you hear, you answer and the result is the life you are living. As you see, you be, and the result is the life you are living. Your perception of anything or anybody has to be a choice of what you want yourself to be, of how you want to see your Self and I want to guarantee you of something and that is, show me what you’re looking for and I promise you that you’re going to find it. And that can be positive or it can be negative.

What I am suggesting is that that’s the only thing going on: the evolutionary process, the spiritual process and what is the spiritual process? For you, the individual, it is the realization of Self. And that’s all we’re going to be concerned about right now…the path of you, the individual. All of the unique dynamics of each individual life are those dynamics that are contributing to the process of self-realization…everything from right-to-left, up-to-down, rich-to-poor, they are all just tools of the individual process. And while they don’t really matter to truth-consciousness, you might be interested in them mattering to you because the quality of your life depends on it.

Keep in mind that all there is IS good or that which is working for the good. That includes the pandemic that has gripped the world in March 2020.

Yes, all there is IS good or that which is working for the good.

So, if you want to increase the quality of your life, it cannot be stressed enough that it is vital to learn to see, and this can be learned, meaning, it is a skill that you can practice until it replaces the old machine and the old way of looking at your Self and the world.

We’re going to start at the level of seeing, of perception, because it is from perception that your behavior comes. And I want to stress that in the beginning, this is going to be a learned process. It’s going to require some discipline to apply this new way of thinking to your daily life and to template this new vision onto your life, including sitting where you are right now, driving down the road to the grocery store, washing the dishes.

You’ll notice that I am not addressing any mental barriers that you may have. I’m not addressing any self-worth issues or any fear issues or depression issues. What I am trying to do is to clarify some of the beginning steps and principles of how to increase your consciousness, which in turn will transform your daily life which will provide you everything you have been seeking, which by the way, will also be changed in the process.

So, as we begin to take a closer look at the art of perception, let’s begin with an understanding that it is time for you to at least consider. This principle will serve as our foundation of examining perception. That principle is this: all there is IS God. All there is that one existence and nothing is outside of it. You are not separated from God any more than God is separated from you. Everything that is manifest; everything is simultaneous and connected to one another. And if everything is God, then so are you. And this must become more than just a concept or a principle. This must become your reality and from that reality, all you can see is peace and love and fulfillment. There is no such thing as not God. And it doesn’t make any difference whether or not you agree. You can’t change laws you didn’t make. But trust yourself.

This unified perception becomes a necessity to practice, develop and ultimately to have the courage to live by. This unified existence is the source of all things. There is no duality even though it looks that way. There is no up and down because up and down are the same. There is no loss because all there is IS love and abundance even though it can feel like loss and pain. Everything that God, that Truth-Consciousness creates or manifests is some form of itself, and contained within it, its role, its destiny in the unfolding is also contained. Nothing is lacking.

This unified consciousness is the secret good rising in all things, including your setbacks, your failures, your shortcomings. Everything that you consider relative exists in this omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent existence, this reality, as forms and movements of that reality, as part of its endless display of multiplicity. And no matter how awful you may consider yourself to be, no matter how holy you may feel you are, you, too, are part of this unfolding. But unified, none better, none worse although it can appear to be.

So, begin here with a unified perception of one existence and if you practice this, you can see nothing but perfection all around you. That seeing may bring a wave of comfort and peace to you, of knowing that everything, including you, is OK, perfect just the way you are.

And as I said before, you are going to find what you are looking for, so, be careful what you see.

And if you reject this because you can’t see it, because your eyes see chaos and fear and death, and you think to yourself that the only way you can practice this is by making it up, then so what? Make it up.

Chances are, perfection is a better version than the model you’re working with. So, make it up! And this is where you must start and practicing to see what your eyes cannot see. See, you’re already getting it!

So, that’s our foundation. Everything is one. There is nothing else. So, as your life unfolds, you can see that behind much of your effort, you see your attempt to improve your circumstances, the quality of your life, your experience of well-being. As you look out on the lives of others, you see the same thing. But you can also see as time passes, one movement to another in an attempt to create a more perfected form, a greater version of itself through a variety of techniques.

Clinging to your old patterns, you can see where the old patterns create barriers and problems for you and at some point in time, they invite the dynamic of destruction or pain into your life. The old patterns just don’t work anymore but you keep hanging onto them. So, when you’re not willing to change, when you’re not willing to let go of the old way of doing things, you’ll notice that life has a way of forcing the issue.

But if you’re conscious enough and understand the purpose of your life, then you can decrease the amount of difficulty or destruction you have to face in order to move forward by letting go of that part of your old self…not because you should or because there’s something wrong with it, but because you choose to and because you realize that that old part of you doesn’t work anymore.

So, look even more carefully and bring to mind again the fact that there is but one existence, one being, one Absolute, and begin to see that nothing is outside of it, nothing is separate, nothing unrelated, including you. And now notice as you practice this, what happens to you? You, too, are It, are part of all that is, that you are that. And what starts happening to the old you, the you that has plagued yourself with problems and anxieties and fears? The old you begins to disappear, to merge into something greater.

Blog 20 3(1).png — Now, you see that you are perfect just the way you are, the way you really are, and that you are free to unite with that innate image that lies inside of you of who you really are.

You see that the trust you had placed on money, on your ego, your own individual skills, on your mind, was at heart of your pain and suffering. You see that trust at this new level is a form of absolute certainty for nothing else exists and that you are free to let go and relax, to allow joy to come into your life. You see that the beliefs you learned in trying to keep up with the Joneses and trying to fit in, of trying to be something that you thought you should be was at heart of your pain and suffering. Now, you see that you are perfect just the way you are, the way you really are, and that you are free to unite with that innate image that lies inside of you of who you really are.

You see that belief at this level becomes certainty because nothing else exists and that fear is eliminated, self-doubt is eliminated. You see that the need you had to be accepted, to be loved, to be approved of, to be included, to be noticed was at the heart of your pain and suffering. You see that love at this level is all you are and all you ever will be and that you need nothing from anybody for any reason to be OK and that you are free to be your true self. You see, in spite of all that is wrong with the world, that nothing is wrong and that everything is perfect as it is, all connected, all playing its role. And yet, there is truth to live and work to do. For the world is in dire need of this seeing that you provide.

The process of evolution, the physical world seeking more and more perfected forms of itself, in need of letting the old ways and the old forms go, is now your unfolding and its yours. See beyond your senses. See beyond your pain and suffering and the prison you built for yourself and see you for who you really are. When you see you, you will see them. When you see you, you will see God for the two are one.

I’ll end with this quote from “A Course in Miracles:”

“Forget not once this journey is begun the end is certain. Doubt along the way will come and go and go to come again. Yet is the ending sure. No one can fail to do what God appointed him to do. When you forget, remember that you walk with him and with his word upon your heart. Who could despair and hope like this is his? Illusions of despair may seem to come, but learned how not to be deceived by them. Behind each one there is reality and there is God. Why would you wait for this and trade it for illusions, when his love is but an instant further on the road where all you illusions in? The end is sure and guaranteed by God. Who stands before a lifeless image when a step away the holy of the holies opens up an ancient door that leads beyond the world?”