What is the World?
Our special theme says, “Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. Here was perception born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone.”
The primary definition of perception is, “the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses.” A secondary definition is, “a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.”
In other words, perception is an outward focused way of acquiring information. When combined with personal thought, which interprets the information received from the senses, perception is also a way of conditioning the mental organism, the brain.
This is very important to see!
Simply put, perception is a means of creating and securing ignorance. In other words, as we remain focused on the world and thought, we are completely ignorant of truth. It is also fair to say we are completely deluded.
Or, as our special theme says, “The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies. Yet everything that they report is but illusion which is kept apart from truth.”
I am in danger nowhere in the world.
When we look deeply at the fact that everything we think is true is not true, we can feel very disoriented. We can even feel afraid. However, there is nothing to fear. There is nothing to fear because thought, the body and the world are not real; therefore, we are not at all vulnerable.
Yes, it is true that the imposter self is vulnerable. As we saw in yesterday’s tip, fear is an inherent part of thought, because thought is not a self. That unconscious realization is the cause of fear. But we are not thought. We are not the imposter self or its creation, the body. We are the true Self. We are that which “cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness …”
As The Teachings of Inner Ramana says, “Fear comes simply from not knowing reality. Therefore, the only answer to fear is to let go of what is false and to remember reality as true.”
That is our focus today. In addition to practicing awareness-watching-awareness, take short breaks today to notice awareness as what you are. Notice that as awareness, you observe thought. Notice that you observe the body. However, you are prior to both of them. Notice yourself as that which is completely unaffected by anything in the realm of perception.
To help with today’s focus, I am recommending two meditations. If you can, please practice the first meditation early in the day and the second meditation later in the day.
