Perception Is A Mirror
“Perception is a mirror, not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.” – A Course In Miracles
This was part of my lesson a few days ago in the workbook of A Course In Miracles. It hit me hard because I found myself realizing that I was actually in the midst of a situation in which I considered my perception to be fact. If my perception is a mirror of my state of mind then I was in deep trouble. It’s really not fun to realize that everything really boils down to your level of consciousness. Where your state of mind happens to be at any given moment is all that you can perceive in what you set your eyes upon in the outside world.
I resist acknowledging it is my responsibility to raise my level of awareness, insight, and consciousness so that what I look upon reflects that higher state of mind. Why? Well, because it is so much easier to blame other people for their darkness than to acknowledge our own. If I am to fully understand and believe the statement above, then it squarely points the finger back at me and invites me to do the changing that I would so want another to do. If I look out and perceive that others are selfish, narcissistic, manipulative, mean, etc. then I must examine where my state of mind is resting.
It is absolutely up to me (you, we) to transcend my current level of consciousness if I’m to experience a shift in what I encounter in my outer world. As I do what I know raises my energetic vibration and releases more of my inner light and love, I know that those things that were so bothersome to me before about others, I may not even be able to hold in my perception any longer. Furthermore, either the situation will be transformed or it will fall away.
Another concept in A Course In Miracles states that a miracle is a shift in perception. That was a big “whoa” for me. It means everything is relative to our ability to perceive from a higher level of awareness and connection. When we ask for a miracle, we’re really asking to see whatever situation or person that is troubling us from the highest vantage point that we can. Once our perception changes and rises then what we look upon is transformed and we experience what we humans call a miracle, something unlikely that could only occur through divine intervention. That’s what we do when we pray for a miracle, we invite divine intervention of our state of mind or consciousness. We’re really asking for it to be up-leveled to the place from which the divine views our life, our troubling circumstances, or our conflict filled relationships.
Once that inner shift occurs it is reflected outward. Sometimes when this happens for me, my ego really wants to hold on to being mad at someone for what they did but I almost can’t find the feeling anymore. It gives way to peace or love or compassion, and even if it takes the outer circumstance some time to catch up to my new state of mind, I get to feel the freedom of sweet release offered by the transcendence from lower to higher consciousness within.
The point really is that our level of consciousness is our responsibility and we have the power to change it. So, if you’d like to see something in your outer world transformed, why not start by examining where you’ve been hanging out in thought, emotion, awareness, and perception? See what you can uncover, ask for it all to be lifted to a higher level and for the ability to see with divine eyes. Who knows what miracles might occur?
