I read a comment this morning that stated “perception is reality” and immediately within me I heard.. “be ye not deceived”. When we examine this carefully, and the words of Jesus in the pages of the bible.. we can see that this is what is meant by the “blind leading the blind”… “blinded eyes now seeing” and so many other passages that speak of understanding that perception is not reality… but let’s look at this a bit further to understand more about it.
When we understand the power of distinctions that are created in our minds… then believed to be true.. we see how perceptions blind us.. and do not reflect reality … as it is… or as it was from the beginning. When we look to Jesus’ words in the bible, we see that often times he mentioned things not being so from the beginning… and yet do we consider that what we are seeing and what we perceive is not as it was from its beginning…..
When we look at what perception really is.. it is what each of us perceive of a person, thing or situation.. but where did the perception of such come from? Isn’t it distinctions created in our own minds… or the rehashing or recycling in the mind of things that we’ve heard… or experienced…and the boxes that are built in our own mind as a result of having “hearkened to the voice of another” about so many things in our lives.
Take a minute to try something… look at a person walking down the street in front of you. As you do.. pay careful attention to what your mind is doing… it is “gauging” the person… there are a lot of thoughts that are going through the mind… male, female, short, fat, tall, skinny, skin color, clothing, etc…. now ask yourself “who has told me this… ” about every one of those thoughts that came to your mind in that given moment of seeing another person.
Is the person you’re seeing in reality all of those things…. or are those simply the “perceptions” (distinctions created in our own minds) that are then overlaid upon the person or in other words the boxes that we try to fit them in??
Distinctions that are created in the mind… then believed to be true… that is what blinds us… that is what is perceptions that cause us to be blind to reality. When we get so attached to those perception…. we begin to see every one in the same “box” or the same way… no matter who they are…. or the reality of who they are really.
Jesus in the bible said of himself… that if one didn’t see sufficient evidence in the things that he was doing….. to believe not because of words. He directed people to look to the evidence of things that they could see for themselves… and to examine them based on what they were seeing… not what they had heard or been taught because of words. Words are what create distinctions in the mind… that are then believed to be true… perceptions do the same thing… and they are not reality.
As a child can get a perception in their minds that there are monsters under the bed…the perception will be so strong to them that they will not want to be alone in the room…they will scream and run when trying to be put to bed… all because of the perception created in their own minds…. devoid of the reality of the situation.
We adults so often do the same things. We say rehearsed or repetitive words… or listen to them… that then create perceptions in our minds …. and that blinds us to the reality of evidence that is right in front of us. We will have an experience with one person…. and because of that one person… our perception about all others will be affected by it… and thus we will be blinded to the reality before us.
One of the beautiful lessons about this is shared in the bible when Peter who had been taught not to eat foods or associate with people from a different “belief” …had not done so.. not because it was something that he knew for himself… but because he had hearkened to the voice of another about such.
The writing in the bible tells us that Jesus instructed that man was to live by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God…. and that whatever it was that God spoke in the ear, that was to be shouted from the roof top… and then we have Peter… on a roof top… having a vision of a sheet from the sky… full of animals that he had been taught not to eat of.. and he had not… and now being told to “eat”.
Peter’s perception was solid …. the distinction in his mind was that they were unclean and not to be eaten of… and yet where did he get that idea?? Why would God now be telling him to eat something that he had never eaten of?? Peter declines… says no… and then God speaks to Peter… what is it that God says in the writing? Does what is said speak to Peter only about what he is to eat or not? No… it changed Peter’s entire perception.. it opened his eyes of understanding… for Peter realize that what he had done regarding food to eat or not… as well as people to associate with or not… all had been the result of his having “hearkened to the voice of another” who was not God about those things…. and had created a perception/distinction in his own mind, that he had believed to be true, and thus had patterned his living accordingly….
So what we can see in this is that so often it is the perception or the words or teachings of another that blind us … and keep us from living authentically based on whatever is given within each of us to know for ourselves….. but also how it is that we have the eyes of our understanding opened …. so that we don’t take what is our own personal perceptions of things….and people…. attach them to those things and people… believe them to be true.. and then act accordingly!!
We can learn to consider “who has told us this… ” about whatever thoughts that come to our own minds…. “bring every thought into captivity” for ourselves and see where it came from… is it recycled thinking or perceptions that another has told us… taught us… or mandated upon us in our living .. through traditions… cultures… or social mandates…. or is it coming from deep within each of us?
This is how we can “know the truth”.. know what is given within each of us… and know the power that perception can have upon each of us if we allow it.
Perception is not reality… reality is what we can see the evidence of in each and every experience that we have in our daily living…. as long as we don’t “group” them together and try to attach them to others…. and consider that our perception is reality… it isn’t.
As a man thinketh in his heart… (not his head)… so shall he be!! When we try to live by perceptions/distinctions created in the mind…. we are moving away from and no longer living by what is going on within our hearts…. that which we can know and sense … without thoughts about them…. or the recycling of thoughts and words of another… no matter who they are…. or what its been said about!!
Our perceptions are not reality…. not for yourself… not for any other. Remember that if we allow our minds to control us… it will. If we allow perceptions of others to become affixed to them…. we will respond accordingly. So we must “keep ourselves”… we must understand what perceptions are…. the power that they can have in our living… and consider the source of where they come from….for they will blind us.. and keep from us understanding that we are to have… wisdom… and knowledge as well…. if we consider them to be reality!!
Bring every thought into captivity… watch it… see where it came from… where does it go… don’t get attached to it… don’t believe it is reality just because it appears in your own mind… and be careful not to affix it to another… or to yourself… or the perceptions that another might have of you!!
Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free….. truth is based on evidence… not on thinking/perceptions/distinctions created in the mind….. then believed to be true!!
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