posted December 10, 2003 05:46 PM
This is the first of a four part series.There was a saying that an old surpervisor of mine was very attached to. That saying was, "Perception is reality." He was, not too surprisingly, a Virgo. He was also, at the time, a project manager whose main concern was that the upper management types be pleased. It didn't matter to him that the project was falling apart, as long as the management bigwigs didn't think that it was.
Reality and perception are miles apart. This can be easily demonstrated through something as simple as a journey through one's own lifetime.
A game that parents often play with their new babies is called PEEK-A-BOO. This game amuses infants for hours at a time, mainly because at that point in the development of their understanding, they do not realize that something which cannot be seen, still exists. To the baby's perception, once you cease to appear, you must be gone, and so when you suddenly appear in front of them, it is a source of surprise and wonder. To us, it is a silly game. To them, it is magic.
How many of us can forget how we were suckered in by the ads for the latest doo-dad, gizmo or thinga-ma-bob? So amazing, even in the package, right in front of our eyes..then disillusionment. Not everything that our mind is told and comes to believe to be true, is true.
We often find ourselves the butt of our own imagination's creations. Remember that dream guy/gal that turned out to be the dud from the seventh plane of Hell? They were what they were, not what we imagined them to be. Even though their own actions may have played a part in the masquerade of their true nature, still, when the veil was lifted, what was, was what had always been.
There IS Truth, and to be honest, PERCEPTION and BELIEF have probably LIED to us more often than they have told us the Truth.
If more examples will help to drive this point home, take the average Joe's impression of the so-called "occult" arts..astrology for one. How many of us remember being on THAT side of disbelief? Remember, though, that their disbelief from our perspective, is also their BELIEF from their perspective. Both are deceptive. You cannot know Truth through belief. Belief is a roadblock more often than not and perception is it's accomplice. Beliefs are hard things to alter once they've set up camp. They harden into a shape and then anything which lies outside of that basic mold becomes irrational to our mind. We doubt things which don't fit our beliefs.
To see an oak desk and believe that it is solid, is patently false. We know this. There is a great deal of space between the molecules, and also between the electrons that form the outer shell of the atoms and the nucleus of those atoms. A "solid" oak desk is composed mostly of empty space.
But just 200 years ago, trying to tell people that there was more empty space than oak where that desk stood would have been almost impossible. They simply would not have BELIEVED it. Why? Because they could not have PERCEIVED of it. Such a thing boggles the mind and goes against what the brain deems to be rational. Well, DID deem to be rational, until we proved otherwise. Now what was once inconceivable is considered common knowledge among "educated" individuals.
Don't think for a second that BELIEF and PERCEPTION have stopped lying to you, or the rest of the human race, simply because you are more "open-minded" than most. Belief and perception are the epitomy of DECEPTION.. particularly when they choose to disregard the Truth, in favor of something that the mind finds more easily digested. Usually something that is more in line with what the mind already believes to be true.
Many, many years ago, someone told the story of six blind men who came upon an elephant. Having never known an elephant before, each reached out to know what an elephant might be.
The first leaned against it's broad, sturdy side and, based on his perception, believed that an elephant must be like a wall.
The second reached out and felt the smooth, round shaft and sharp point of the elephant's tusk. Based on his perception, he believed that an elephant must be like a spear.
The third man reached out and took the animal's squirming trunk in his hands and percieved it to be like a snake. So that's what he believed that an elephant must be like.
The fourth man reached out and wrapped his arms around the elephant's thick leg. With that perception in his mind, the man believed that the elephant was certainly and most obviously like a tree.
The fifth blind man's face brushed against the animal's ear. Reaching up and feeling around the ear, it seemed very obvious, based upon his perception, that an elephant, must be like a fan.
The sixth man's opinion was, in the end, just as wrong as the rest, for he had found the tail. Based upon his perception, he believed an elephant to be very much like a rope.
They spent the rest of the afternoon arguing about whose opinion held the most merit, since a fan was obviously not a snake and a rope was obviously not a tree, nor was a spear a wall. Hour after hour the debate raged, and in the end, none of them believed that the others were half as right as he.
They were, of course all a little right, but all dead wrong. Even if they had STOPPED arguing and agreed that each had the right to believe in his own way, they would have certainly STILL been dead wrong. Reasonable, but still wrong.
See, the Truth is not what you perceive it to be, nor will your belief help you see past perception to the Truth. An elephant is an elephant, regardless of what you believe it to be and in spite of your perception. An elephant is what it is despite your willingness to let another believe that an elephant is something other than what an elephant actually is.
This is the first of four posts in the course of which Truth will be revealed. This Truth is not my belief, because I haven't been able to bring myself to believe it yet.
Some truths fly in the face of beliefs that are so deeply rooted in the human psyche, that although you can understand them and know them to be true, believing them is significantly more difficult. As I've said before, seeing the door is the first step, opening it is another...but walking through the door is a MUCH more difficult proposition and in the end, the only one that matters.
This information is part of a four part series. The four posts are titled:
Perception is NOT reality
Of Fate
Of Freewill
and
Divine Perception.
Lindaland
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posted December 10, 2003 05:46 PM
posted December 25, 2003 08:34 AM
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