We create our own reality. It is not the circumstances in our life that shape us, but how we choose to interpret those circumstances. We misunderstand experience if we view ourselves as victims and others as being responsible for our suffering. In truth, no one is to blame for anything that happens to us. Events and situations only reflect where we are now in our spiritual growth curve. The totality of your being shape your experiences. They are not confined to circumstances derived from this lifetime, but involve the patterns from all previous lifetimes. These patterns reflect into your current reality and shape the events that you experience.
Karma is the term we use to illustrate this connection between past and present experience. We create situations in our life that will allow us to bring emotional patterns to the surface to be healed. Forgiveness, gratitude and love will always heal these patterns. Once released through our chakra systems, the emotional patterns dissolve into the nothingness they were before we created them. Karmic patterns are formative in who we have become today. They influence our circumstances, our relationships and our understanding. Your energy body is a warehouse of emotional patterns waiting to be released. Failure to release the patterns results in their return into your energy body to surface again at a later time. As a spiritual being, you have eternity to release them. It is your choice whether to do it now or procrastinate further.
Perception is the process in which we create our world. Our five senses, our sense of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell define it to a large extent. Our concept of the world and our place in the world, however, extends far beyond this framework. What forms perception? Is everyone’s perception different? Is there correct perception and, if so, how do you know when you perceive correctly? Fundamental to your perception is you, the perceiver. You are at the center of your Universe, around which all things revolve. A Jewish saying states that when a person dies, a Universe is destroyed. That would mean that a Universe exists for every person. How can that be?
How do you see the world? Think for a moment on your view of your siblings, your partner and your friends. How do you view strangers? What are your opinions concerning plants, animals, insects, fish, worms and bacteria? How do you relate to the Earth? What is your perception of Angels, Spirits, God, Demons, Christ, Buddha, Heaven and Hell? What is love, fear, hate or sadness? Who are you?
Your answers to these questions reflect your perception of your reality. I say your reality, because that reality is unique to you. No one else experiences your reality as you do. With six billion people on the planet, there are as many different views on reality. That only addresses human perception. What about reality for a dog or a bug or a plant? It must be radically different than our own. Which view of reality is correct? Reality appears to exist, but can you truly comprehend it or any aspect of it in its entirety?
So what is correct perception and is correct perception the same as the truth? Truth is unified and inseparable; to know a part of the truth is to know all of it. It does not exist in parts. This is a true statement, but it is not the truth. What is the difference? A true statement involves correct perception, which approaches truth. Correct perception is as close as we can get to truth at this level of existence. Healing perception requires that there is correct perception, which we call “truth”. All deviations from this are forms of misperception. Everyone seems to think they know the truth. The fact that their truth is inevitably contradicted by someone else’s truth would lead us to conclude that no one really knows the truth at all.
Our five senses define our existence in the physical plane. This means that, without these senses, reality does not exist for us. The senses themselves, however, are only data collectors. Our nervous system processes this information and pieces together an idea of what it is sensing. This composite collection of sensory data is interpreted according to learned and experienced criteria. A basic feedback system involving pain tells us when we are involved in activities that could damage our bodies. For instance, hunger communicates our body’s need for food as thirst, our need for water. Information is stored in successive composites called memories, which in turn are grouped and cataloged. The criteria we use to associate experiences are pleasant and unpleasant. Pleasant experiences are stored in our “yes” files and unpleasant experiences are stored in our “no” files. We are constantly pulling up, comparing, evaluating, adding to and editing these files.
At what point does misperception begin? Does it begin at the sensory level, where the incoming data varies from person to person as well as species to species? A dog’s sense of smell is about 50 times more acute than a human’s, so their range of data would be considerably broader. A honeybee can sense light in the ultra-violet spectrum, which we can’t see and a bat emits sound in the sonic range, which we can’t hear. The ability to sense at different wavelengths greatly influences an organism’s perception of reality.
You have built your world based upon your first misperception of separateness and from your concept of separateness. It has many forms and complexities, but in essence it all comes down to “I am right”. Being right always implies that if you don’t agree with me, then you are wrong. This applies to individuals, groups, religions or countries. Being right is an important goal for us, because we think that it means being closer to God. Opposing armies whisper prayers to God to support their just cause before a battle. Religious zealots cause their own destruction and the destruction of others to demonstrate their commitment to what they perceive as “God’s will”. Might makes right and God is always with the righteous is the perception.
We are in the process of moving from a perception of separateness to one of unity. Unity is a necessary condition if we are to survive on this planet. Survival itself is not the issue, because we are eternal Beings. The issue is to maintain a physical body. Our physical bodies are important as vehicles to release blockage patterns we have accumulated through time unending. The body serves as a conduit to release blockage patterns from our energy hologram. The end of separateness is our return to correct perception and correct perception is as close to REALITY as we can get. The Course in Miracles says that, “the last step in the reawakening of knowledge is taken by God”.
Scott
