ACIM III. Perception versus Knowledge P 6. Right perception is necessary before God can communicate directly to His altars, which He established in His Sons.
ACIM III. Perception versus Knowledge P 6
III. Perception Versus Knowledge, P 6
6 Right perception is necessary before God can communicate directly to His altars, which He established in His Sons. There He can communicate His certainty, and His knowledge will bring peace without question. God is not a stranger to His Sons, and His Sons are not strangers to each other. Knowledge preceded both perception and time, and will ultimately replace them. That is the real meaning of “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” and “Before Abraham was I am.” Perception can and must be stabilized, but knowledge is stable. “Fear God and keep His commandments” becomes “Know God and accept His certainty.”
Taking Responsibility
A while back, I decided that I wanted to be free of the belief that I have no control over my weight. For such a long time, I have told myself that I can’t help it when I eat when I am not hungry. I blamed it on uncontrollable cravings. I blamed weight gain on my metabolism. It seemed not to be fair. I didn’t eat much, and yet the number on the scale was steadily climbing. I finally decided that this was all ridiculous and that I was ready to accept responsibility for my actions and the beliefs that drove those actions. That was my first step in stabilizing this particular perception.
The second step was following up on that decision by making a commitment to allow my mind to be healed of these false beliefs. I decided to change, but I had to master that decision. It felt like my beliefs imprisoned me. It was like a box I couldn’t get out of, and I kept bumping into the sides and hurting myself. I felt like my whole life revolved around what I ate. I was either afraid of my food choices, confused about what I should eat or what it meant, or feeling guilty about what I ate. Finally, I became tired of this and ready for a final solution.
So having made that decision, I am now vigilant for thoughts that keep me imprisoned in this story of being a victim to food, to this body, to my own choices. When I notice them, I ask for a miracle. I ask that my mind be healed of these beliefs, and I accept the Atonement in this situation. This is the way I allow my perceptions to be corrected and thus stabilized.
Beliefs about Time and Sickness
I know this works because I did it with time, and it feels so good to be free of the idea that time is real and that it is my job to work within those fixed boundaries. Another area where I am making this correction is with sickness and pain. I am allowing my mind to be healed of the belief in pain, sickness, and death. I say this as I sit here with allergies and hoarseness. But, though I have symptoms, I am not suffering.
Suffering, on the other hand, is when I think it should not be happening, and I am at war with it. There is nothing to fight against. I know that I made this up. Pain, sickness, and suffering are impossible because they are not in God. I open my heart to Love and ask that my mind be healed of the belief in pain and sickness that I still cling to.
Politics is a place in my mind where my perceptions are unstable. I love this politician and dislike the other. I think that my perception of the way things should be done is right, and the others are wrong. The political climate in the US is especially useful for watching this occur in my mind. Being aware of my unhealed thoughts, I can ask for correction until I have right perception and they are stabilized.
Right Perception
I look at different beliefs that I have always accepted as “just the way it is” and ask that I remember the truth instead. I made these rules and laws, projected situations that seemed to prove the rules, and concluded they have validity because, well… there they are. Now I am undoing all this as I ask that the Holy Spirit heal my mind and undo what I have done.
In this way, my perceptions are brought closer to truth and stabilized so that I am not always having to go back and do it again simply because the form of the untrue thought looks a little different. When my perception is completely stabilized, God will be able to communicate His knowledge directly to me. He will reveal the truth, and I will no longer simply believe, but I will know, never to waver in that knowing, never to question the truth again. I knew before, and I will know again.
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