We have pointed to the recognition that thoughts believed define the reality of the one who believes them. We have given examples of this in daily life, but recently a friend shared another concrete example.

A tool he uses to make this point is hypnosis. Through hypnosis, he plants a suggestion of thoughts to believe and the audience then observes the effect of thoughts on the hypnotized. Obviously, external reality does not change for the hypnotized from the perspective of the audience. For the hypnotized, however, the thought suggested by the hypnotist becomes the subject’s reality.

Prior to Self-realization, we go through life in a form of societal hypnosis. As Mooji has said, “We perceive what we conceive (believe).”

The fundamental belief shaping our lives is that we are existentially an individual identifying with a specific body, separate from the rest of life. Stop and openly examine whether this fundamental belief is true. We often accept this thought as true without really looking at, or considering why, we believe it.

In a previous post, we pointed out only 9-10% of the cells making up our body are human. By percentage, we are more bacteria, virus, or parasite than human. Even those cells that are human are constantly dying and being replaced by new cells.

If we are not fundamentally our body, are we our thoughts? Again, we need simply to look. We can see thoughts come and go. If we can see the thoughts come and go, we must be more fundamental than the thoughts.

Once more to St. Francis of Assisi’s statement, “What you are looking for is what is looking.” Nisargadatta Maharaj takes it a step further: “In seeking, you discover that you are neither the body nor the mind, and the love of the self in you is the self in all. The two are one.”

We are Awareness seeing the thoughts come and go, feeling the sensations of the body, and noticing the beliefs, but not affected by them.

Our body changes, our thoughts change, and our beliefs change. We are Unchanging Awareness expressing as “what is looking.”

 

Namaste, Bec and Steve

 

Perception Is A Matter Of Belief

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