How does perception work?

Short answer: not quite as well as we think!

When we have our attention focused on a single, separated, individual human life (the one we think we're living at this time) perception seems to be the only way for information to get into our minds.

But it's more complicated than that. Perception is really an interplay between external stimuli, observation, judgment, and filtering.

Remember that mind is NOT contained in brain. So when a new brain is made in a new body by procreation, perception has already begun for that individual. Then the loving adults surrounding the infant (or not so loving adults, as the case may be) begin 'teaching' and 'training' the infant's brain. The adults can't help teaching any more than the baby can help learning. That's what our brains are programmed to do.

Self-awareness usually occurs sometime around age two or three. This concepts see the self and the body as the same thing. Differentiation begins, too. "I am me, and you're not." By the time we're going to grade school, perception is pretty firmly in place. This perceptual mechanism has been in place for most of the time you can remember, so it's very easy to jump to the conclusion that perception is all you have. Perception becomes reality.

Look at these steps: Something happens outside the body. We observe it with our senses, take it into our brain, and evaluate it. We judge it as being something to embrace, something to avoid, or something that doesn't matter. Things that don't matter, we forget about quickly. You have seen this happen many, many times. You learn a new word, and suddenly you hear that word everywhere. You are thinking of buying a new car, and then you notice everyone is driving that model. You become fond of a new song, and it seems it's playing on every radio. Logically, you know that the word, the car, and the song were there all along. You only become more aware because of your evaluation; you gave something value, and perception allows it into your awareness more and more.

Sharing our perceptions with others through communication, strengthens them, galvanizing perception into a paradigm, or mindset. And once our minds are set, it's difficult to learn new concepts because we think we already know.

Perception, as with everything here, is ego-based by default. This means that if you do nothing differently, you will keep thinking that perception is the only way to get along and live in the world. We all know perception certainly is not perfect, but since we believe it's all we have, we just keep trying to improve it.

But we have a few little hints that there is something else. You may feel happy for no apparent reason. You may feel depressed or grumpy for no apparent reason. Mystical or supernatural experiences my enter your awareness. Extreme events such as tragic death, injury, or illness may occur in close proximity to your individual life. These types of things can be inroads, if they cause us to question. As soon as we ASK a question, we have made an opening for awareness to expand. More often than not, we simply replace one paradigm with another, thus keeping ego in place. But each time we accept a mindset that is more expansive, more inclusive, more accepting, more loving, and less focused on individuality, we draw closer to Truth. Truth can't be perceived; It can only be known. Once you know the Truth, you are set free from perception and your human experience will be over.

By the way, if that last bit feels like bad news to you, you're not ready. But if you read this entire entry, you are getting ready.