Because perception comprises the world we believe ourselves to be in, and because this is an inherently illusory world given that in order to perceive, the perceiver must be separate from the object of perception – and no separation of any kind exists in Truth and Reality – perception’s refinement becomes the means of our awakening from this world to our true Home where no separation, and therefore no perception, exists. And to refine perception means to refine the perspective that brings it about.
“Only your misperceptions stand in your own way. Without them, your own choice is certain. Sane perception induces sane choosing. My [Jesus’] setting the Atonement into motion in time was an act based on true perception.” “Awakening stops just short of Heaven, for only perception needs awakening. Heaven was never lost, and so cannot be awakened.” “A bad thing [e.g., the ego] cannot exist. It is therefore entirely unnecessary to try to figure one’s way out of it. The thing to do is simply to conceive and perceive it rightly.”
The Course, particularly the Workbook for Students, is therefore a training in refining perspective until perception becomes seeing. At that point, while seeing still isn’t part of Eternity, it contains nothing that contradicts Eternity. As the Course says in two of its early Workbook lessons: “The Divine is in everything I see,” and, “The Divine is in everything I see because the Divine is in my mind.” In other words, seeing is a form of perception that isn’t separate from the object of perception, but is one with it because the Divine in the mind of the one seeing unites with the Divine in whatever is being seen. The only difference between seeing and everything Eternal is that seeing is still based in a world of time rather than Eternity.
On the journey of awakening we interact with three levels of perception:
- “looking,” which perceives only the surface layer and outward form of things, and which is our normal way of perceiving until we change our perspective;
- “seeing,” which perceives the Divine Essence of things from the Divine Essence in ourselves, a way of perceiving we must learn; and
- “perceiving,” which is neutral and becomes either looking or seeing depending on our choice for perception in any given moment or situation.
At the point where our perception has become clear of all distortion – connecting the Divine in both perceiver and perceived – awakening is complete, we are at the Gate of Heaven within us, the illusion of an outer world is gone, and the Divine Itself reaches to us and translates us entirely into Heaven. The Course indicates that the time of this translation forever out of the world of illusions is already set by each of us in partnership with the Divine, and is guaranteed to happen at some point in every individual’s experience. “This Course has stated that the Revelation of the Creator and the Creation as One has been already set, that the mind determines when that time will be, and has determined it.” Every Child of the Divine must eventually return to their Place in Heaven and in the Divine Family, both because it is the Divine’s Will and ours individually that this be so, and because the Divine Family will be incomplete until every separated one has returned.
The essential principle that allows us to refine our perspective, and through this our perception, is that: “Ideas leave not their source, and their effects only seem to be apart from them. Ideas are of the mind. What is projected from the mind and seems to be external to it is not outside at all, but an effect of what is in, and has not left its source.” This is why in Reality there is no world outside us, and why all we need to do to change our perceptions and to change the world our perceptions show us is to fundamentally change the thoughts we think, i.e., to transform our perspective.
The first three lessons of the Course’s Workbook present the basic perceptual dilemma that most of us in this world experience, and that the Course goes about resolving:
- “Nothing I look upon [i.e., perceive with the body’s eyes alone] means anything in Reality (because I have given everything I look upon all the meaning that it has for me).”
- “I have given everything I look upon all the meaning that it has for me (because I do not understand anything I look upon).”
- “I do not truly understand anything I look upon (because nothing I look upon means anything in Reality).”
These three lessons thus indicate the perceptual “trap” that keeps us from perceiving beyond the surface level or outward form of things, which perceiving with the body’s eyes and other senses can only do. The Workbook’s fourth lesson shows how thinking is pulled into this perceptual trap: “My thoughts about the things I look upon do not mean anything. They are like the things I look upon.” It can be observed that the key thought in all of these first four Workbook lessons is the idea of “meaning,” which we discover is actually the idea of Divine Meaning. Divine Meaning is the key that unlocks and frees our perception, when such Meaning is present in our experience. Our perception remains trapped in meaninglessness when Divine Meaning is missing.
“Everything that the body’s eyes can look upon [because both the body’s eyes and what it looks upon are temporal and therefore an illusion] is a mistake, an error in perception, a distorted fragment of the Whole, without the Meaning that the Whole would give. And yet mistakes, regardless of their form, can be corrected. The belief that some mistakes cannot be corrected is merely error in a special form that the ego venerates. It would preserve all errors, and make them into evidence of unworthiness. For here is its own stability, its heavy anchor in the shifting world it made, the rock on which its ‘church’ is built, and where its worshippers are bound to bodies, and believe the body’s ‘freedom’ to do as it will, and its death, are their own.
“True reason will tell you that the form of error is not what makes it either a punishable and damnable transgression, as the ego believes, or merely a mistake, easily corrected, as Spirit teaches. If what the form conceals is merely a mistake – i.e., a mistaken thought, or lack of Love – then the form cannot prevent correction. The body’s eyes perceive only form. They cannot see beyond what they were made to look upon. And they were made to look on error, and not to see through and beyond it. Theirs is indeed a strange perception, for they can perceive only illusions, unable to see beyond the granite block of appearance, and stopping at the outside form of everything, which is really nothing. To this distorted form of perception – the outside surface of everything – the wall that stands between you and the Truth seems entirely real.
“Yet how can perception that stops at nothingness, as if it were a solid wall, perceive truly? It is arrested and held back by form, having been made to guarantee that nothing else but form will be perceived. These eyes, made specifically not to perceive clearly, will never see.”
“See how the body’s eyes rest on externals, and cannot go beyond. Observe how they stop at nothingness, unable to go beyond form to Meaning. Nothing is so blinding as perception of form. For perception of form means that understanding has been obscured. Only mistakes have different forms, and so they can deceive. Form can be changed because it is not true. It could not be Reality because it can be changed. Reason will tell you that if form is not Reality, it must be illusion, and therefore is not there to see. And if you perceive it, you must be mistaken, for you are perceiving what cannot be real as if it were. What cannot see beyond what is not there must be distorted perception, and must perceive illusions as the truth. Could such perception, then, recognize the Truth?”
As long as we believe ourselves to be stuck in this world of perceiving the surface layer and outward form of things, because of the circular trap of lack of Meaning in those perceptions that the first three Workbook lessons point to – a void or emptiness of Meaning that is inherent in the world of form and which we attempt to fill by projecting our own meaning onto the screen of the world instead of allowing Spirit to project true Meaning onto this screen – then our journey of awakening will be delayed. Therefore, we must learn to be free from the belief that our perceptions come to us from outside of ourselves, and that our thinking must then adjust itself to these perceptions. This freeing will lead to “seeing,” which is our highest priority, as described in an early Workbook lesson: “Above all else I want to see.” This lesson is immediately followed by a related one that states: “Above all else I want to conceive and perceive things clearly.” This reflects the Course’s key idea on what perception actually is. For our thoughts / conceptions are the cause of our perceptions, rather than being the result of our perceptions as reactions to them. If we understand this, then we can begin thinking truly and conceiving clearly, which will in turn allow us to perceive clearly because our perceptions will result from our clear thoughts. Through continuing this process, we will eventually achieve true perception, or seeing with our spiritual eye, which the Course also refers to as the Vision of Divine Essence. The spiritual eye sees Wholeness instead of separation and opposites. It sees what the Course refers to as the Great Rays emanating from the Creator. It sees Reality.
“Earth can reflect Heaven or hell, the Divine or the ego. To reflect Heaven you need only leave the mirror of the world clean and clear of all the images of hidden darkness that you have drawn upon it. The Divine will shine upon the clean and clear mirror of Itself. Only the clear Reflection of Itself can be seen upon the world if It is to be seen at all. Reflections are seen in Light. In darkness they are obscure, and their meaning seems to be found only in shifting interpretations, rather than in themselves.”
“Perception is a choice of what you want yourself to be, the world you want to live in, and the state in which you think your mind will be content and satisfied. Perception chooses by your decision where you think your safety is. It reveals yourself to you, as you would have yourself be. And it is always faithful to your intention, from which it never separates. Nor does it give the slightest witness to anything the intention in your mind doesn’t uphold. Perception is therefore a part of what it is your intention to perceive, for means and end are never separate. And thus will you learn that what seems to have a life apart from your intention has none.”
“Your first exchange of what you made for what you truly want is the exchange of nightmares for the happy dreams of Love. In these rest your true perceptions, for the Holy Spirit corrects the world of dreams, where all perception is. Knowledge needs no correction. Yet the dreams of Love lead unto Knowledge. In them you see nothing fearful, and because of this they are the welcome that you offer Knowledge. Love waits on welcome, not on time . . .”
“Perception is a choice, and not a fact. But on this choice depends far more than you may realize as yet. For your entire belief of what you are depends entirely on the voice you choose to listen to, and on the sights you then choose to perceive based on this listening. Perception is a witness only to this choice, and never to Reality. Yet it can show you the conditions in which awareness of Reality is possible, or those where It could never be. Reality needs no cooperation from you to be Itself. But your awareness of It needs your help, because this is your choice.”
“You perceive what you expect, and you expect what you invite. Invite, expect, and perceive as you will. Your perception is the result of your invitation, coming to you as you sent for it and expected it.”
The idea that we perceive what we expect to perceive is not new, but its significance may not be clear at first. Because what we perceive is a symptom or effect of our perspective rather than the cause of this, two powerful understandings emerge. First, perception is the way the world shows us the content of our creative activity in this world. In the Realm of Heaven or Reality our creative activity is creation, a process that can’t be described by words. On Earth our creative activity can align with Truth or be out of alignment, helping us and others to awaken or perpetuating illusions. The content of our perceptions, i.e., our experiences, shows us to what degree our creative activity in this world is aligned with Truth. To the degree that our creative activity is aligned with Truth, our experiences will show us that we are on the right path, and thus they will be satisfying, fulfilling experiences. Our dissatisfying, unfulfilling experiences, on the other hand, show us the degree to which our creative activity in this world is not yet aligned with Truth, providing us incentive and therefore helping us to refine our creative activity so that this can become aligned with Divine Will again.
The second powerful understanding that this idea gives us is that our perspective – the way we frame things in our minds – is the single most powerful act we have available to us in this world, because everything else in our experience unfolds from this act, be it illusions or miracles. Even the ego is merely a frame of mind, a perspective we have adopted. Our perspective has this power because it literally produces our perceptions and experiences, therefore bringing about our “reality.” Therefore, to transform our perception into seeing in order to awaken from this dream world of illusions, we must refine our perspective, including our interpretation and framing of situations, from which perception arises in order to allow perception to become transformed.
“The power of the decision of attention and perspective is my own. Divine Law guarantees that no one can suffer loss unless it be their own decision. No one suffers pain except their choice elects this state for them. No one can grieve nor fear nor think themself sick unless these are the outcomes that they want in time, and no one dies without their own consent. Nothing happens to you except what represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. Here is your world, complete in all details. Here is its entire reality for you. And it is only here that awakening is needed, and only here can it be found.
“You may believe that this position is extreme, and too inclusive to be true. Yet can Divine Law or Truth have exceptions? If you have the Gift of Everything, can loss be real? Can pain be part of Peace, or grief of Joy? Can fear and sickness enter in a mind where Love and perfect Holiness abide? Truth must be all-inclusive if It be the Truth at all. Accept no opposite and no exceptions, for to do so is to contradict the Truth entirely, and to render It untrue. Awakening is the recognition that the Truth is true and nothing else is true. This distinction you have heard many times before in this Course, but may not yet have accepted with no exceptions both parts. Without the first part the second has no meaning, but without the second is the first no longer true. . . .
“Let us today be truly humble, and accept what we have made for what it is. The power of the decision of attention and perspective is our own. Decide only to accept your rightful place as cocreator of the Universe, and all you think you made will disappear. What rises to awareness then will be all that there ever was, eternally as it is now. And it will take the place of self-deceptions made only to usurp the Altar to the Creator and the Creation.”
“Each day, each hour and minute, and even every second, you are deciding between . . . the ego’s perspective and the Holy Spirit’s Perspective. The ego is the choice for the perspective of guilt, while the Holy Spirit is the decision for the Perspective of Innocence. The power of the decision of attention and perspective is all that is yours in this world. What you can decide between is fixed, because there are no alternatives except Truth and illusion. And there is no overlap between them, because they are opposites that cannot be reconciled, and cannot both be true. You are either guilty or guiltless, bound or free, unhappy or happy. The miracle teaches you that you have chosen Innocence, Freedom, and Joy. The miracle is not a cause, but an effect of your decision of perspective. It is the natural result of choosing right, attesting to your happiness that comes from deciding to be free of guilt. . . . The power of the decision of attention and perspective that the Divine has given to Its Children is theirs, and nothing else can Its Children perceive, or choose to look upon, without imposing on themselves the penalty of guilt in place of all the joyful Teaching the Holy Spirit would gladly offer them.”
When we realize the power of the decision of our attention and perspective, of how we choose to interpret and then frame things in our minds in every situation and instant, and how this choice determines our entire world, we also come to understand that our current understanding of Truth is not yet strong enough to interpret and frame things rightly ourselves in order to allow their true essence to emerge. We then humbly turn over the power of our interpretation and framing to One – Spirit – who does know, and ask for Its Perspective in place of our own.
“Begrudge not, then, this little offering. Withhold it and you keep the world as now you look upon it. Give the power of the decision of attention and perspective to the Holy Spirit, and everything you perceive goes with your gift. Never was so much given for so little. In the Holy Instant is this exchange effected and maintained. In the Holy Instant is the world you don’t want brought to the one you do want. And here the one you do want is given you because you want it. But for this to be accomplished, the power of your wanting must first be recognized by you. You must accept its strength, and not its weakness. You must perceive that what is strong enough to frame and make a world can also let that world go, accepting Correction as it is willing to see that it was wrong.”
As we continually refine our perspective through offering it to Spirit, and through doing so refine our perception, our “spiritual eye” becomes activated in us and we stop assigning unqualified belief to the witnesses that our physical senses bring to us. Eventually we are able to consistently perceive the essence of everything with our spiritual eye, or Divine Essence perceiving through us. This marks the end of the journey of awakening. But this ending is actually just a beginning: the beginning of our rebirth into Eternity and our taking our place as Cocreators of Perfection again. For even seeing has no place in Eternity.
“The Divine cannot be perceived even through vision. Perception has no function in the Divine, and in the Realm of Heaven perception does not exist. Yet in awakening and Atonement – the undoing of what never was – perception has a mighty purpose. Made by the separated ones for a purpose not in accord with their creation by the Divine, it must become the means for the restoration of their holiness to their awareness. Perception has no meaning in itself, yet does the Holy Spirit give it a Meaning very close to Heaven. Healed perception becomes the means by which the Children of the Divine forgive their sisters and brothers and thus forgive themselves.”
“Perception, even at its loftiest, is never complete because it is never completely whole forever. Even the Holy Spirit’s Perception, as perfect as perception can be, is without Meaning in Heaven. Perception can reach everywhere under Spirit’s Guidance, for the Vision of Divine Essence beholds everything in Light. But no perception, however holy, will last forever. Perfect perception, then, has many elements in common with Knowledge, making transfer to Knowledge possible. Yet the Final Step must be taken by the Divine, because the last Step in your awakening, which seems to be in the future, was accomplished by the Divine in your creation. The separation has not interrupted It. Creation cannot be interrupted. The separation is merely a faulty formulation of Reality, with no effect in Eternity at all, and therefore with no real effect. The miracle, without a function in Heaven, is needful here on Earth. Aspects of Reality can still be seen, and they will replace aspects of unreality. Aspects of Reality can be seen in everything and everywhere. Yet only the Divine can gather them together by crowning them as One with the final Gift of Eternity.”