PERCEPTION, 2023

Perception noun /pəˈsep.ʃən/

• A belief or opinion, often held by many people and based on how things seem. 'These photographs will affect people's perceptions.'

• The quality of being aware of things through the physical senses, especially sight. 'He had a different perception of heat.'

• Someone's ability to notice and understand things that are not obvious to other people. 'She has extraordinary powers of perception.'

• A thought, belief, or opinion, often held by many people and based on appearances. 'The public’s perception was that he had acted with integrity.'

In all of the above definitions found in the Cambridge Dictionary, as well as many others that can be discovered in various other dictionaries, perception has the physical world as its starting point or primary cause. Yet perception is a result and not a cause, it is a mirror of the mind and not a fact.

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Projection makes perception, and it is you who have given an interpretation to the world you see, nothing more than that. Yet while it is no more than that, it is no less. Because you gave it an interpretation, consequently, it is important for you, and this interpretation is only the witness of your state of mind, the outer image of an inner state.

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In the world of forms, one may perceive an object as very cold, while another may perceive the same object as only cold, and still another may perceive the object as warm. Moreover, one may consider something as being ugly, awkward, or unpleasant one day, while the same thing can be beautiful or at least visually pleasing the very next day. In general, these kinds of perceptions can easily be attributed to the physical senses of each person. However, the same thing can happen with a situation, an event, or even an idea, not only with objects, and here we can no longer talk about or attribute the differences to the physical senses.

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Then, where do all these differences come from? Undoubtedly, it is the physical world where they appear to be in. Yet it is the mind that judges what the eyes see, thus, it is the mind that interprets the messages of the eyes and gives them meaning. However, this meaning does not exist at all in the physical world. What is seen as "reality" is merely what the mind wishes to see. Its scale of values or system of beliefs is projected outward and sends the body's eyes to find it. The body's eyes will never see except through differences. Thus, perception is not based on the messages they bring, for it is only the mind that evaluates their messages, and consequently, only the mind is responsible for seeing them. It is the mind alone that decides whether what is seen is real or false, big or small, desirable or undesirable, beautiful or ugly, pleasant or unpleasant.

It is in the sorting out and hierarchy of values of the mind that errors in perception enter; thus, it is only here where correction must be applied. The mind organises the information brought by the body's eyes in agreement with its predetermined values, judging or evaluating where each piece of information given by the senses fits best. Once the mind is healed, the body’s eyes will continue to see differences, but the mind will no longer acknowledge them.

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This is why, in the world of forms, you do not respond directly to anything you see, feel, or hear, but rather to your mind's interpretation, so that your interpretation becomes the justification of the response. Remember always that you see what you seek, for what you seek, you will find.

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What you see always reflects your thinking, and your thinking always reflects your choice of what you want to see. Your scale of values is a determiner of this; for what you value, you must want to see it, convinced that what you see is really there. No one can see a world to which his mind has not bestowed value. And no one can help but look at what they think they want.

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You always see what you expect, and you expect what you request. Your perception is the result of your invitation coming back to you as you sent for it. Perception can make whatever picture the mind desires to see, for man perceives what he thinks. Therefore, if you are not satisfied with what you see, in fact with your projection that makes your perception of what you see, do not seek to change the outside world, but rather seek to change your mind, your scale of values about the world for perception is always a result and not a cause.

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Once you have healed your mind and have changed your scale of values about the world, focus on the new perception, and by doing this, you give consistency to what you see and what you behold will change accordingly. Your image of the outer world will now shift to support the meaning that has replaced the one you had before.

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Being only your interpretation, the world does nothing to you; you just thought it could do something to you. But you also can't do anything to the world either; you have just mistaken yourself into thinking that you can because you have been mistaken about what the world is about. The world is nothing in itself, only your mind has given it meaning. Herein lies your deliverance from guilt and sickness both, for they are one. Now you have chosen to see the world as innocent and open to salvation. Now you no longer give it thorns to crucify yourself with; for now, the cactus no longer has dangerous thorns that can hurt you because now there is no cactus.

NOTES

Photograph, pigment print under acrylic matte glass, solid wood artbox

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