How Our Perceptions Shape Our Reality
Insights from Mysticism, Philosophy, and Quantum Physics
Learning from the great mystics
Many of the world’s great mystics, regardless of their religious affiliation, have taught that what humans perceive is not true reality but appearances. Gautama the Buddha, among others, and the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta shared this view of human reality.
In 1 Corinthian 13:12, Paul writes: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
This text has been given many different interpretations. I believe it is generally understood that Paul refers to our inability to see God and God’s creation clearly. We have an obscure or imperfect vision of God’s creation and, therefore, of what reality truly is. What appears to us remains an appearance and not an objective reality, and neither is it God’s creation.
Some mystics have also essentially said: “The world responds to us as a result of our reaction to it.” This suggests that our experiences are very individualized.
From Philosophy
Classic philosophy recognizes that perception is not objective but subjective. Our five physical senses are imperfect and limited, but perception is also subject to our beliefs, feelings, and prior experiences.
Therefore, there is no such thing as absolute reality in our human experience. What appears to us as reality is a product of our individual perception.
Our perception, consciously and unconsciously, is subject to our individual conditioning. Just as it is said that no two human faces are identical, it can be said that no two human psychological conditionings are identical.
It follows that no two humans have the same perception of the world around them. So, what is reality? Ancient and modern philosophers have forever debated the subject of reality vs. appearances.
The sum of all individual perceptions that we take for reality forms the collective perception — that part that influences our conditioning. In general, we individually accept what collective consciousness takes as reality. Many schools of philosophy have accepted that what we call reality is nothing more than appearances.
From Quantum Physics
In the 1900s, modern science made shocking discoveries in the quantum field: At the most elemental level of matter, there is no matter but only energy in motion. Most people discount this finding as having no practical impact on normal life.
Yet, the fact that the ultimate building blocks of matter are invisible to human perception maintains a sense of uncertainty concerning the open question: What is reality?
Quantum physics also revealed that there is no expressed reality in the absence of an observer. It takes the involvement or participation of a human being to pin down the movement of energy into a material reality.
Without this human participation, there is only an energy field, which is also a field of probability. That field is the source of all that appears to us as reality.
That phenomenon indicates that our participation is required, both individually and collectively. The quality of our participation has an effect on the appearance of what we perceive as the reality of the world we live in.
A Creative Supposition
Filters are used on cameras to modify the picture, affecting tone, colors, angle, or distance. Our conditioning is like a series of filters that affect different aspects of our outlook on life.
These filters are generally unconscious. Yet, they affect how we participate in every single experience we have, and although we are generally unaware of it, the outcome is very personalized to our psychological makeup.
Let’s assume that we could become more aware of these filters and that we could either accept, modify, or reject any of them. It stands to reason that instead of remaining unconscious of the importance and effects of our conditioning on our experiences, we could actually have some degree of control over them.
In other words, we could have some control over the outcome of these experiences. This means we could actually become conscious co-creators of our lives.
What we are not talking about
Although positive thinking is more constructive than negative thinking, positive thinking per se is insufficient and not at the heart of what we are talking about.
Thinking positive thoughts is a passing and relatively shallow activity. What we are talking about is becoming conscious of our state of consciousness. It means questioning our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, desires, etc., or learning to live a conscious life.
It is investigative work because our state of consciousness is, for the most part, the result of unconscious considerations and concepts that we blindly acquired during the early years of our lives.
Trying to understand why we frequently find ourselves in similar recurring unpleasant situations or investigating how and why we react to certain repetitive situations are productive exercises that require introspection.
What Jesus wanted us to do more of
The esoteric meaning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5) is not about simply avoiding the sins enumerated in the Ten Commandments. It is about identifying and eliminating the intents, thoughts, or beliefs associated with erroneous and wrongful activities.
In John 14:12, Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…”
This statement is often downplayed because the Church is not fond of our getting the “wrong” idea. Yet, I believe that it is precisely what Jesus meant. To believe (deeply enough) in Jesus and his miracles is to understand that the appearances of this world are not the Reality of God’s creation.
This recognition frees us from becoming prisoners of our fears of any appearance when we know that, as children of God, we are forever under the protection of an unconditionally loving, omnipresent, and omnipotent God. An immutable faith in this belief was the source from which Jesus became the instrument of all of his miracles.
Jon Canas
Debunking false creeds. Reclaiming the Soul of Christianity.
Site: https://bio.site/ChristicSoul
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My book: Religion, Politics, and Reclaiming the Soul of Christianity: A Spiritual Imperative for Our Time and Our Nation
