The last section regarding consciousness is the nature of perception, which will be the basis for the next section regarding narratives and the prevalence of magic in our current world. While we discussed the nature of reality, truth and shared reality, another important aspect is the nature of perception. While it may seem similar to attention, it is distinguished more so by capacity and the ability to observe reality and cause and effect relationships.
According to Webster, perception is a result of perceiving, a mental image, awareness of an environment through physical sensation, physical sensation interpreted in light of experience, cognition or a capacity for comprehension. Unlike the other aspects of consciousness, perception relates to intuition, which seems to be lacking more so in modern societies than those prior, likely due to the amount of data that’s transmitted which is greater than in any prior generation.
Perception is really the capacity to see things from an internal or external frame of reference. Internally, it would involve identifying bias, recognizing what you assert as true and false, and seeing how your patterns of conduct result in various means (emotions, preferences, etc.). External perception involves being able to see how other people have bias, recognizing what they see as true and false, and seeing how their patterns of conduct result in various means. Good internal perception is based in honesty and humility, bad internal perception is based in ignorance and arrogance. Likewise, good external perception is based in empathy, while bad external perception is based in a form of psychopathy.
How you define good and evil is truly based on perception, more so in a world of relative ethics and values. Many of these items are biased by culture, while others are intrinsic to an individual. Why are some drawn to healthcare while others prefer a dog eat dog business lifestyle? It’s because their perceptions define their reality (attention), truth, and their collective consciousness. The experiences of people drive their desires for a life drawn to self or to helping others.
Think of a truly awful experience like losing a loved one to lung cancer. Many will feel the hurt and blame God for their internal pain, but fail to see the pattern of chain smoking that led to the cancer. The healthy perceptive person would identify the pattern of demise, the unhealthy person would ignore the actions that led to the event. It’s not unusual to have unhealthy perceptions, we are human, but living constantly in it leads to resentment, confusion and usually impaired decision making. That’s why wisdom states to never shop for groceries when hungry or to go to bed angry.
Practicians of magic, or psychologists, use the terms of self fulfilling prophecy and confirmation bias. This principle asserts that you in essence manifest the energy and disposition you exude in the collective consciousness around you, or only see the things that confirm the way you currently view things. There is a lot of truth in the principle, as when you have a shitty day, you probably didn’t notice the family hugs out the door, the fact that your living essentials were covered (food and shelter), and many things you are truly thankful for. The things to which you gave attention changed how you viewed everything else.
Perception is key to understanding consciousness and reality. It’s not merely what you do that’s key, but why you do it (intention) and how you perceive it that changes how it effects the world around you. When you can see that, you can step back an re evaluate the world around you. This is key for the next section on narratives, since like the analogy to games in the collective consciousness post, narratives form the basis for your life story.
Essentially all of our lives tell a story that follows other stories. A job or company is merely a collective consciousness that follows a united story and goal (narrative), where one has a specific area that they are intended to further or advance the success of the story. The authors usually make more than the editors or the words on the page, though each part is usually important. Needless to say, when you keep your understanding to that basic level, you can effectively evaluate things on a more truthful basis and less subjective than before. It will also help you pull away from propaganda designed to manipulate what you view as truth, and hopefully show you life can be more simple and enjoyable than what it has become.
In summary, consciousness is not string theory or quantum mechanics based (at least not yet), it’s based on attention, how people see truth, how societies relate, and how you perceive it. While there is truth behind vibration, matter and physical objects, consciousness is independent and inherently personal to people or groups of people. If you stand by religious principles, you believe in the immortality of a soul, implying you are a spirit or soul in a physical avatar (body). If you are naturalistic, you believe in the mortality of the body and that life is essentially meaningless (your story is an accumulation of experiences that will be forgotten in a generation or two). Both ontological views have a material impact on how you view consciousness, one is inherently carries more value on life than the other.
