Perception

by Gregory Allen Butler

Quantum physics and mysticism share the same perception of reality--that reality is a totality, an ocean of oneness, a sea of consciousness. If you cannot perceive that to be the case, then you can conclude one of two things: that the scientists and mystics who claim this are deluded; or, your vision or perception is clouded by obstructions and they are correct. My inner feelings tell me they are correct.

The first 21 years of my life I had no perception of oneness, wasting 21 years and almost costing me my life—a crisis that stemmed from misdirected energy with an unbalanced lifestyle with no conception of who I was. But then something happened. A painful ordeal with my physical body took me to the brink of death. This culminated with a drastic change in my state of consciousness. A sense of bliss, inspiration, oneness, and serenity took hold. When people ask me what actually happened to allow me these new inner experiences, I tell them the suffering thinned the veil over my consciousness.

If that sounds confusing, try looking at it this way. Pretend that when you you’re growing up as a child, your parents instilled into you a belief that all men who parted their hair in the middle were inherently evil. That might sound strange, but then again, some people have strange beliefs, and children are very susceptible to accepting what their parents tell them. But anyway, pretend that you grew up in this type of family. On your first day of school, in the first grade, you meet your new teacher. It’s a man with his hair parted down the middle. You become filled with fear and you run out the door and down the hallway, trying to escape the horrors that surely await you in class.

Your perception is way off base, but that is how you view the world. You view it through a lens of perception that is conditioned by past experience and family, society, education, religion, etc. Without critical self-questioning, you tend to keep perceptions that have been impressed upon your minds. But to make progress in consciousness and self-development we need awareness and introspection. It is then that you can see that your illusory perceptions are indeed illusory, and no longer serve you. You can finally let go of the bandages or veils over your eyes. Perhaps not all of them, but at least it will be a thinning.

Perception exists in various degrees—from densely clouded to perfect knowledge. An example of densely clouded perception would be that of a drunken racist—a deeply unconscious state of being. An example of perception at the other end of the spectrum is the spiritual aspirant who drops the last vestiges of separation and becomes one with the Ultimate Reality. If that is too hard for you to fathom, maybe this will be easier: the metaphor of the moth and the flame. The moth, after longing for union with the flame, has perfect understanding as it is being consumed in the flame, becoming one with it.

What I want to do now is give you a visualization exercise. I want you to imagine yourself as someone who has layers of bandages wrapped around your inner being, interfering with your inner seeing. At one point these bandages seemed necessary, maybe from a past hurt or pain. You have been reluctant to take them away. But, if you can see them for what they are—impediments to your source of being—then you can let them fall away. Every time you succeed in removing a layer of the veil, your perception expands. Are you ready? We will tackle the first two together, two that most people have to some degree. You can do any other work later, at your own pace.

The first veil you examine is one that has been created from various experiences from your past, coupled with dreams of the future. All these experiences come together in this veil in the form of ambition. The key here is to take a deep breath and slow down your mind. With the aid of your consciousness, you can see that ambition distorts perception by hyper-focusing, usually on a goal that is not of intrinsic value, something that is transitory in nature. You can see that all of this is nothing but the ego’s need for separation. You can see that when you use ambition to get ahead in your career, it can lead to tunnel vision. The allurement of ambition can take away the awareness of love, oneness, and infinity. Do you get the picture? When you can see this for what it is—an impediment to development—let it go. And with that falling away, your perception expands.

Perhaps you discover another veil—greed. Maybe you remember Michael Douglas’s speech in the movie Wall Street, where he tells his audience, “Greed is good.” It’s time for a new perspective. Greed equates to a narrowing down of vision. In a state of greed, a person attempts to possess an object but instead becomes possessed by the object. Instead of freedom, you become enslaved. Instead of experiencing oneness, you experience separateness. The vibrations of your thoughts drop to a low frequency.

When you are ignorant of your true nature, you have desires born of ignorance. These desires, which have nothing to do with your higher self, or your true purpose in living, cloud your vision and purpose. Your field of consciousness becomes more and more limited, similar to the eye’s field of vision when suffering from glaucoma. Take your time to sit with this perspective. When you ‘get it’ the veil can fall away. Sit with it. Don’t rush. The light of your consciousness will dissolve it. And with it your perception will expand even more.

In personal development, especially the holistic personal development on which this site focuses, perception is paramount. Without it, we choose the wrong goals, have distorted self-esteem, and get distracted into illusions, obsessions, and suffering.

Take a look at your life and see if there are any veils impeding your perception. As we did with ambition, take an honest look to determine if that level of perception still serves you. It takes real honesty with yourself to acknowledge that these ‘veils’ exists within you. But they can only be removed by consciousness, so take some time for introspection. Some other possible areas to search for within are fear, apathy, anger, attachments, ego, addictions, and closed mindedness.

If you discover any of these ‘veils’ in yourself, there is no need for judgment. What is needed is awareness. No need to hide or deny, just give your conscious attention. This is self-growth. This conscious awareness will make it possible for these curtailments of self to dissolve and disappear once and for all. Your inner life will then have more space for love and joy to take root in.