Perception

 Valuable life is one that seeks the nature of reality. Many times, we end up thinking what we believe as reality and what we know as reality are one and the same. For a believer or a person of faith, when something sounds good, they will accept it without question, which prevents them from thinking about life or reality on their own. They have in fact given away their power to something that may not be the absolute truth. They place greater value on an outside authority rather than acquaint themselves with their inner realization from their own experience.

Discrimination begins only when the perception ends. In fact, discriminating faculty is like having a judge driving his/her decision purely based on evidences to find the truth rather than justifying something he or she believes to be the truth. The mind assisted by senses will function both as plaintiff and defendant’s attorney to justify the respective perceptions as truth submitting the belief system, upbringing, desires, attachments, sensory perception, etc. supporting what it believes as truth. There is subtle difference between intellectual conceptualization vs inherent realization of truth. They are like circumstantial evidence Vs proven evidence.

Knowing something deeply and intimately has the power to influence, transform, and enhance our lives. We don’t need affirmation from an outside authority to confirm the reality. Knowing something for sure itself is an affirmation and even if it is ridiculed by others, it never gets tainted. We all have inherent capacity to know or experience the truth, to engage with it directly and know it on a deeper level. Knowing operates beyond mind through direct experience unlike faith and belief. It may not conform to the standards set by the world but creates an indelible impression and a great sense of fulfillment. In fact, it transcends mental assertions caused by the influence of the senses.

In a world obsessed with the capacity of the mind, it is often difficult to express that we know something invaluable. Sometimes, intuition and insight we derived out of our experiences might be quite profound and might directly reflect the truth, but it might be difficult to conceptualize and present coherently to others as truth. But is it necessary for someone to validate our assertions about the truth, if the need is for self-transformation? There is a subtle difference between constructing our life with concrete Vs mud, isn’t it? Concrete is like knowing something for sure Vs mud that is built from the perception that might destroy quickly under different circumstances.

 Let us not allow our wishful thinking, belief system, upbringing, desires, attachments, sensory perceptions to be obstacles from knowing the truth and peace derived from our self-transformation. Name, fame, pride, recognition, etc. are minuscule when compared to euphoria we experience when we find the reality through a fulfilling self-transformation. Freedom from the barriers of senses and construct of conditioned mind is very blissful.

Nandini Mithun