Day 49
8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED?
The belief in order of difficulties is the basis for the world’s perception. It rests on differences; on uneven background and shifting foreground, on unequal heights and diverse sizes, on varying degrees of darkness and light, and thousands of contrasts in which each thing seen competes with every other in order to be recognized. A larger object overshadows a smaller one. A brighter thing draws the attention from another with less intensity of appeal. And a more threatening idea, or one conceived of as more desirable by the world’s standards, completely upsets the mental balance. What the body’s eyes behold is only conflict. Look not to them for peace and understanding.
Its important that I understand this idea of perception. My perception of something is how I see it, what it means to me. Where does this perception come from? It is based on what I think I know from my gathering of information, from the way I was raised, how much influence my peers have on me, and my desire to see something in a certain way. And most of all, it is based on my desire to be special and unique, different from you and everyone else, and on my desire to experience what can never happen, that is, separation from God.
I have thoughts in my mind about how a certain thing should be or not be. I am deeply attached to these thoughts, these judgments, and so I am determined that they be true. I seek to prove that they are true by projecting my thoughts onto the world, and using the body’s eyes to show me the proof of my thoughts.
We all share this strange illusion that our eyes show us truth and then we judge how that truth affects us. Actually, we gave the body’s eyes the purpose of reporting back to us what we actually made appear in the world. Looking at the world for the cause of our happiness or our upset will never get us anyplace because (as the Inner Ramana says) we are looking in the wrong direction. The cause is not out there, but in our minds.
My perception is different from your perception, which is the cause of many misunderstandings and conflicts. Its amazing to me how often I will think I am having a meeting of the minds (your perception is the same as my perception) only to discover you are seeing this issue in a completely different way than I am.
I am so sure of my stand that I wonder what is wrong with you that you can’t see something so obvious. And I am sure you feel the same way about my understanding. As I am learning that perception is not reality I am also learning to laugh at my certainty that I am right. But up until that change of mind, disagreements like this could lead to war.
Here is an example. Let’s say that I am a democrat and you are a republican. I can’t believe some of the stuff you are saying. How could my friend, this good intelligent person believe this claptrap. (And of course you are thinking the same thing about me, since your perception tells you that what you believe is certain and self-evident.)
If politics really matter to me then I might eventually realize that I cannot continue to be friends with a republican. The ego mind tells me that my problem is you and the only solution is to change you or move you out of my life. This makes absolute sense to the ego because the ego is all about separation.
As I begin to wake up, I realize that you cannot be my problem because I am never a victim of the world I see (including you). You cannot be my problem because I am solely responsible for the world as I see it. So the problem cannot be you, but must be a thought in my mind that I am unwilling to question. If I give the Holy Spirit my willingness to see differently, I will withdraw my projections onto you and forgiveness will heal my mind. From a healed mind, will come a healed world since the world is my projection.
What I am learning is that politics isn’t the problem. Politics is one way I express the problem, just one form of the problem. The problem is that I want to experience separation and so I project separation in many, many ways, and politics is just one of them. I can give up all interest in politics, but if I have not given up my interest in separation, then it will just show up in another form. Maybe I will decide you don’t understand what the Course is really saying, and I will have to convince you of the “right” understanding. And so separation just continues.
On the other hand, a beautiful healing is mine if I want it, and all it costs me is my desire to perceive in a certain way. As long as I want to remain in this illusory world, I will have to perceive because perception is what keeps it going. But through forgiveness, I can allow my perceptions to become a reflection of truth, and the illusion becomes a happy story in which seemingly separate individuals project from a healed mind.
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