Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 5: Perception vs. Knowledge

          photo: Miracles waiting to be delivered

          An important subject. True perception is the basis of knowledge. First we get our perceptions straight and then we know. If you know then you are certain. If you are uncertain, then you don’t know. You do not ask questions when you know. Knowledge is power because it is certain. When you are certain it is strength.

          Perception is temporary. It is an attribute of the time/space belief and subject to love and fear. Misperceptions produce fear, true perception induces love. Neither produces certainty because perceptions vary, it’s their nature. True perception is the basis of knowledge. Knowing affirms the truth. 

          All of your problems come from the fact that you do not recognize or know yourself, your brother or God. Recognize means know again, remember implies that you knew before. Not saw before, perception means different interpretations. The miracle is a way of perceiving but not knowing. It is the right answer, but you don’t ask when you know. Questioning delusions is the first step in correcting them. The miracle or right answer corrects them. Perceptions change, they are dependent on time. They are subject to transitory or changing states, so they are variable.

           How you perceive at any given time determines what you do and action occurs in time. Knowledge is timeless because certainty doesn’t question. The questioning mind- perceives itself in time and looks for future answers. The unquestioning mind is closed because it believes the future and current states will be the same so this produces an unchanged state or stasis. This counteracts an underlying fear that the future will be worse than the present. This fear limits your ability to question at all. 

          Visions are a natural perception of the spiritual eye, but they are still corrections. The spiritual eye is symbolic and not a device for knowing. It is a means of right perception which makes it a miracle but not a revelation.  A vision of God is a miracle not a revelation. The fact that perception remains at all removes it from the realm of knowledge. That is why these visions do not last. 

          Insight is not an attribute of knowledge. It refers to lofty perception. Lofty is meaningless in this context. Insight is not the way to knowledge but the prerequisite for it. Knowledge is of God, it has nothing to do with your perceptions at all. Knowledge is a gift from God to you, it is only that. An ancient proverb ‘know thyself’, be certain. Certainty is of God. If you love someone and perceive him as he is, then it is possible for you to know him. Then you stop asking questions about him. While you ask questions about God, you are implying that you don’t know him. Certainty does not require action. When you say that you are acting on the basis of sure knowledge- you are confusing perception and knowledge. Knowledge brings mental strength for creative thinking but not for right doing. *Perception, miracles, and doing are all closely related. 

          Knowledge is the result of revelation and induces only thought.  Perception involves the body, even in the most spiritual form. Knowledge comes from the altar within. It is timeless and certain. To perceive the truth is not the same as knowing it. That’s why you have a hard time living this Course. The tentative perception of some of you is too uncertain for knowledge because knowledge is sure. The perception of others is so varied they swing from real knowledge to cognitive disorganization, difficulties organizing thoughts and focusing attention. 

           If you attack another’s error, you hurt yourself. You don’t recognize him when you attack. An attack is always made on a stranger. He is your brother, that is all you need to know.  That’s a fact and not a perception. 

          The prayer for the miracle. Use it anytime something unloving crosses your mind. 

          Right perception is necessary before you can communicate clearly with God.  “Thou shall Love,” is Jesus’ only commandment. Knowledge comes before and after time. It is the first and the last. If you do not recognize you brother you do not recognize God.