I have discussed perception a
lot in these messages. I do that, in part, because it is so central to A Course
In Miracles (ACIM). In fact, ACIM defines our change in perception as our
Atonement. It is effected by the Holy Spirit – not by an act of willpower on
our part – only when we are truly open and willing to see things, events and
people differently. Perception is also very central to recovery and the
achievement of serenity in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Members of the AA
Fellowship will not talk about how you go about changing your old-thinking
perceptions. Rather, they will tell you, as they told me, to focus only on
today – don’t drink, go to a meeting, share openly and honestly, talk to your
sponsor, work the steps, pray to your Higher Power, and the rest of your life
is none of your business. Doing this earnestly, you will come to discover that
your compulsion to drink has melted away, serenity and joy have begun creeping
into your life, and your perception of the world is changing.
In a small book given to me by a
friend [What Color Socks Does God Wear,
Doug Bennett, 2015] the author discusses, among other things, how we developed
our perceptions and why they are so difficult to change. He comes at this from
the perspective of science and logic. It was very interesting reading.
“How do we learn from our reality? Isn’t reality just what is ‘out
there,’ the stuff that we walk around in and bump into once in a while? Let’s
look at how that works.
“We perceive our environment, what we think of as reality, with our
senses. [Karl Pribram, eminent neuroscientist, psychologist and
philosopher, who postulated that we humans think in holograms] proposed that the process we … use to
perceive things involves memory of learned experience. In Pribram’s model we
take in information from our environment through our senses and convert it to
holograms. Those little holograms are taken to our memory, where we retrieve
something from our memory that matches the input information. That retrieved
information is projected back out of the receiving sensory organ and forms what
we see or otherwise perceive.
“This means that everything we perceive is learned,” [p. 35]
So, what if I haven’t learned it
yet? Does that mean I wouldn’t “see” anything? The answer is “yes!” I remember reading of the Spanish explorer’s
conquest of the Aztecs of Central America, who maintained constant “watchers” for
potential enemies. Why didn’t they “see” or report the square-rigged sailing
ships of the 16th century Spanish ships as they moved close to
shore? The Aztec watchers had no frame of reference for these massive forms “floating”
on the sea. Early reports indicated they had reported large, slow-moving clouds
floating above the ocean. That’s all. When they began to see men disembark,
they thought they were gods who came from the clouds. The watchers simply
didn’t see “traditional” enemies. There was nothing alarming to report.
We know what eventually happened.
Bennett goes on to describe how,
as we learned these initial experiences, it wasn’t just the physical perception
that we learned. Each physical perception was accompanied by meaning and
feeling reactions, as well. When we “see” something, the meaning and feeling
reactions occur at the very same time as the physical perception. When you see
a snake out of the corner of your eye, the registering of the sight of the
snake, the fear we learned from that initial experience, and the
jumping-out-of-the-way all occur simultaneously. They were all learned
together. In Bennett’s words, they form a perception packet of information –
the object itself, the feelings, and the associated physical reaction. It is
this “packet” we recognize, project outward, and then respond to.
“There are several apparently different aspects to our learned
responses. To give them all a convenient handle I have invented something I
call a perception packet. I am not proposing that such things really exist.
This is just a way to explain the process. Imagine that for each situation in
our life we have a little packet, a perception packet. Every time we encounter
that situation or that person or thing, we look up the packet for that
situation, open it up and it tells us what we have encountered, how to feel,
and what to do in that situation.” [p. 38]
ACIM and AA alike teach what I
see reflects primarily only who I think I am. If I am essentially angry, I will
perceive anger in almost every situation or person. I will be wary, fearful,
untrusting, or tentative. If I am essentially open-minded and trusting, that’s
what I will perceive. If I’m on the lookout for a quick mark, I will see
everyone else looking to take advantage of me. ACIM states what we perceive is
merely a reflection of our own thoughts. AA says it much more simply: If you
spot it you got it.
As I’ve
stated before, “I have to understand, on a visceral level, who the “Me” or “I”
really is when I am speaking or thinking. The “I” that says to myself, “I
really need a newer, more reliable car” is a different “I” than the one that
says to my Holy Spirit, “I can’t do this anymore; help me perceive things the
way You see them.”
Although
these messages are mostly for me, thanks for listening to me and getting to
know me – warts and all. As always, feel free to forward this message to your
friends, family, and those accompanying you on your spiritual journey.
Don
#1 Sep 2016
Copyright 2016
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