T-3.VII – Beyond Perception
March 22, 2021
In section V (Perception Versus Knowledge) the difference between the two (perception and knowledge) was explicated. This section continues with the distinctions between these two different orders (or levels).
One level is a place of knowledge, revelation, and communion with God. It is a place of wholeness and oneness.
The other level is perception, which can swing in two different directions. One direction is a continuation of separation, whereas the correct direction is toward forgiveness. “Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation” (14:1). This direction makes the order of perception one of prayer, miracles, and healing. “Prayer is the medium of miracles” (3:2).
Knowledge is the relinquishment of perception. With knowledge, there is no forgiveness or miracles, because communion is a state where healing has been completed.
So how do we reconcile these two orders? The answer is through prayer. Prayer is directed upward toward knowledge, it is an affirmation of knowledge (3:2). When we pray for ourselves or others, we are asking God to show us who and what we are as He created us. We are not praying for healed perception, we are praying for knowledge that He gave us. What we receive is translated into healed perception which we can then use in a behavioral response in this world.
If we pray truly, we will hear God’s response that we are a miracle. Not a miracle in the sense we are used to hearing of – miraculous action here in this world – but a miracle in the sense of being an expression of our Creator. Miracles are expressions of Love. He created us in His likeness, so we are like Him. Once we realize this, perception will no longer be necessary, and like Jesus, we will return to knowledge (1:5). This may seem a long way off in our journey. So, we may wonder what is to gain from reaching up to the Heavenly realm for an answer if the realms are so different. The answer seems to be that we can carry back that revelation of knowledge into this world. We can translate that response into a healed perception.
We ask (pray): What am I? The direction of the prayer is toward the other realm. There we are told we live in God’s light. We are like to Him. We know this light and likeness with certainty. What we take back into the realm of conscious thought reflects this knowledge: “I am not an image.” We begin to perceive perfect equality in our brothers, who are miracles in their own right. We can likewise say to them, “you are not an image.” The answer to prayer is always a form of right-thinking and perceiving miraculously (11:1).
Another distinction between the two realms are abilities and “spirit functions” (see paragraphs 1, 9). Our true strengths which we express in Heaven are to know, love and create (1:2, see also VI.1:2). These are absolute and unlimited functions. In the realm of perception, these functions can only be reflected as abilities. Abilities are our earthly talents and characteristics of personality that we want to bring under Christ-control. When we receive our answer to prayer and translate it into a useful vision or message from God, the doing aspect and follow through is still up to us.
This translation process then is crucial because we often go in the wrong direction with our interpretations. “It is possible to interpret meaning, but this is always open to error because it involves the perception of meaning” (7:6). The errors that result rest on a fundamental misunderstanding: that we created ourselves. Because of this error we employ our own ingenuity when attempting to translate revelation (8:3). Of course, we have little choice here because perception involves a selection process (12:1). With perception, we go through a process of accepting, rejecting, of organizing and reorganizing, and of shifting and changing focus (12:2). It is a very unreliable way of interpreting the answer to our prayer. The only answer to prayer is for total healing and total forgiveness, “the only meaningful prayer is for forgiveness” (10:2).
The slippery slope of interpreting perception or injecting our implicit motives and biases into our visions is discussed elsewhere. In the Manual for example, from a section called “How Can the Perception of Order of Difficulty in Healing Be Avoided?”:
“The mind classifies what the body’s eyes bring to it according to its preconceived values, judging where each sense datum fits best. What basis could be faultier than this? Unrecognized by itself, it has itself asked to be given what will fit into these categories. And having done so, it concludes the categories must be true. On this the judgment of all differences rests, because it is on this the judgments of the world depend. Can this confused and senseless “reasoning” be depended on for anything?” (M-8.4:3-8)
The answer comes at the end of the section:
“The one answer to sickness of any kind is healing. The one answer to all illusions is truth” (6:5-6).
This is what our current section is teaching us. Revelation is total. Perception is partial an incomplete. The miracle is smuggling from Heaven a piece of wholeness, bringing it back to us in a vision that we can express to our brothers. Our job is not to allow perception to distort the message. The answer to prayer is always forgiveness and healing. It always to see ourselves and others in the “One light” of God not as separate and apart. This is perception that can heal because it comes from beyond perception.
Suggested Practice
I am a thought of God who lives in His light.