An Apple Apart
In a prior class we discussed the counterintuitive idea that an apple is not an apple. At least not what typically comes to mind when we contemplate an apple.
If we pick up an apple we might notice its weight, the smooth waxy skin, perhaps a hint of red bleeding into green. Biting into it registers crispness and taste, perhaps sweet or tart. Eyes confirm its semi-roundness, nose may catch a subtle fragrance. Clearly it’s an apple, right?
But let’s reconsider our assessment.
What we experienced was a collection of sensory reports: visual data about color and shape, tactile feedback regarding texture and temperature, taste signals, and olfactory information. Our brain assembles these disparate inputs into what we confidently label “apple.”
Yet none of these sensations are the apple. They’re interpretations. Translations. The eyes don’t see objects they detect wavelengths of light. The tongue doesn’t taste fruit, it registers chemical compounds. Each sense organ converts physical phenomena into electrical signals, which the brain then weaves into a coherent story called “apple.”
Here’s where it gets interesting: if the apple exists independent of our perception, where exactly is it? It’s not in our hand, that’s just pressure against skin. The sight of it is merely reflected light. It’s not on the tongue, the sense solely a chemical reaction.
As we experience it, the apple exists entirely within awareness itself. And nowhere else.
This isn’t philosophical abstraction. It’s pointing to something we can directly investigate. Everything we’ve ever known about anything - every object, every person, every experience - has only ever appeared as content within consciousness.
As A Course in Miracles reveals, “Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that.”
The apple we’re so certain exists “out there” is actually appearing “in here.” And recognizing this shifts everything about how we relate to our experience.
Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll explore what happens when we look beneath the surface of perception and discover what remains when interpretations dissolve. I look forward to seeing you then.