ACIM III. Perception versus Knowledge P 1, 2. Misperceptions produce fear and true perceptions foster love, but neither brings certainty because all perception varies.
ACIM Perception versus Knowledge, P 1, 2
1 III. Perception versus Knowledge, P 1
1 We have been emphasizing perception, and have said very little about knowledge as yet. This is because perception must be straightened out before you can know anything. To know is to be certain. Uncertainty means that you do not know. Knowledge is power because it is certain, and certainty is strength. Perception is temporary. As an attribute of the belief in space and time, it is subject to either fear or love. Misperceptions produce fear and true perceptions foster love, but neither brings certainty because all perception varies. That is why it is not knowledge. True perception is the basis for knowledge, but knowing is the affirmation of truth and beyond all perceptions.
I have thrown the word know and the word knowledge around a lot, but I would be more accurate to say I perceive. I think I know something when, really, I have only a particular perception of it that I like a lot. I must be getting smarter because nowadays, I seldom believe I know anything.
Straightening Out Perceptions
Jesus says that before I can have knowledge, I must straighten out my perceptions. The mind perceives and misperceives. Its misperceptions produce fear, and its true perceptions foster love. When my daughter was recently upset with something in her life, I thought I knew what to do about it. This was a misperception, not a knowing, and the misperception threw me into confusion and fear. Then I perceived that I must be in error, and so I asked for correction. When I accepted that correction, I felt love and peace.
This is how I am to straighten out my perception. True perception leads me to knowledge but is not knowledge itself. Knowledge is power because it is certain and unchanging. It is not subject to variations. Knowledge is beyond all perceptions. When I was in the middle of my daughter’s ego story, my perception was wrong-minded, then I asked for clarity and saw it differently. But then something else would happen, and I would again be uncertain and misperceive. When another ego story comes around, I will apply perception to it, and maybe it will be true, and maybe not. This is typical of perception.
If I knew instead of perceived, there would be no uncertainty and no variation in how I saw things. No matter how distraught my daughter was, there would never have been an answering fear thought in my mind. I envision my mind as a crooked road, and with the Holy Spirit’s help, it is being straightened. That is my job now, to straighten out the road. Knowledge does not need my help and will come on its own.
2 III. Perception versus Knowledge, P 2
2 All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself, your brother or God. To recognize means to “know again,” implying that you knew before. You can see in many ways because perception involves interpretation, and this means that it is not whole or consistent. The miracle, being a way of perceiving, is not knowledge. It is the right answer to a question, but you do not question when you know. Questioning illusions is the first step in undoing them. The miracle, or the right answer, corrects them. Since perceptions change, their dependence on time is obvious. How you perceive at any given time determines what you do, and actions must occur in time. Knowledge is timeless, because certainty is not questionable. You know when you have ceased to ask questions.
I Am Conflicted About My Identity
Jesus starts this paragraph by telling me that I don’t know who I am. I understand this. I have thought I was Myron for nearly all of my life. Even now that I know I am not Myron, I still don’t remember who it is I am. Even the little bit I do remember, I forget and then must remember again. And though I accept the idea that I am the Son of God, I don’t really know what that means, nor do I really believe it. I believe Jesus when he says it is true, but I also don’t believe it.
If I truly believed it, I would live it, and that isn’t happening. I am living a conflicted life, sometimes listening to the ego mind and sometimes laughing at the ego mind, but never am I simply living as the Son of God. I am making headway as I ask questions of the Holy Spirit and receive answers. I ask for healing of the mistaken thoughts in my mind and receive healing, and I can then ask better questions. My perceptions are being corrected, but corrected perceptions are not knowledge. They are a step toward knowledge, but not the same as knowledge.
I Will Know Again
Jesus points out that while I don’t recognize myself, recognizing means to “know again,” and that is encouraging because if I knew myself before, then I can know myself again. Right now, my job is to continue questioning my thoughts and accepting Jesus’ plan for my redemption. The correction of my perception is not knowledge, but it is bringing me closer to recognizing myself. I will do this until there are no more questions, and what is left will be knowledge.
Jesus says that I don’t recognize my brother, either, and I see that this is true. Here are three ways I have failed to recognize my brother in his disguises. One day, I looked at my sister-in-law and saw a sick and failing body. My vision stopped at her body, and I believed the illusion I saw with the body’s eyes. How could a fragile and sickly body be my brother, who, like me, is the Son of God. Another time, I saw my daughter as suffering and endangered. How could this precious child of God suffer? I looked at the illusion and allowed my vision to stop there, so I did not recognize my brother in this one either.
I don’t recognize God either. If I recognized God, I could not believe in pain, suffering, and death. I would not believe in guilt or sin, or fear. If I recognized God, I would never be drawn to any of these illusory beliefs. If I recognized God, I would never imagine I could actually be a body. If I recognized God, I would have no fear of Him and would happily return my whole mind to Him. But I once recognized Him, and so I will again.
My Understanding
What I understand so far: I cannot get to knowledge through thinking because thinking is just the rearranging of perceptions. Perceptions must be healed through a miracle. That is, through my desire to be healed, I accept the Atonement, and my mind is miraculously healed. I also have learned that perceptions change and are not whole no matter how healed they are. They are uncertain and temporary, and so are not knowledge. How I think determines how I act, and all of this occurs in time which is an illusion and so not knowledge. So really, what I understand about knowledge is what it is not.
What I do now is continue to question my thoughts and ask for the miracle of a changed mind. While all of this, the questioning and the healing miracle, and the Atonement itself are all part of the illusion, they are also the path out of the illusion. They are the way I remember God and remember myself. While not knowledge, they are the necessary step toward knowledge.
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