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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
A Course In Miracles
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knowledge versus perception
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return to "The Course" main-page:
From knowledge and perception respectively, two distinct thought systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In the realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God, because God and His Creation share one Will. The world of perception, however, is made by the belief in opposites and separate wills, in perpetual conflict with each other and with God. What perceptions sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into awareness only what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. This leads to a world of illusions, a world that needs constant defense because it is not real.
Perception is a continual process of accepting and rejecting, organizing and reorganizing, shifting and changing... What happens to perceptions if there are no judgments and nothing but perfect equality? Perception becomes impossible. Truth can only be known... perception involves partial awareness. Knowledge ... is all one and has no separate parts.
I have stated that the basic concepts referred to in this course are not matters of degree. Certain fundamental concepts cannot be understood in terms of opposites... Innocence is not a partial attribute. It is not real until it is total. The partly innocent are apt to be quite foolish at times. It is not until their innocence becomes a viewpoint with universal application that it become wisdom. Innocent or true perception means that you never misperceive and always see truly. More simply, it means that you never see what does not exist, and always see what does.
Editor's note: see more discussion at "innocence"
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