Hidden Images
A favorite pastime in my youth was decoding stereograms. Those mesmerizing patterns that looked like visual static until you learned the trick. You’d stare and stare, searching a seemingly ordinary landscape until suddenly, there it was. T-Rex emerging from the foliage as if it had been obvious all along.
The discovery moved something in me. One moment, chaotic blur. The next, an unmistakable dinosaur staring back. And once I’d seen it, I couldn’t un-see it. Each subsequent viewing made the recognition happen faster, easier. I’d trained perception to allow what was always present to reveal itself.
Spiritual practice operates in much the same way.
When we consider that everything appearing in awareness is made of awareness itself, it sounds abstract. Conceptual. Perhaps even nonsensical. The world feels undeniably solid, separate from the consciousness observing it.
But here’s our invitation: explore this statement like we’d study those hidden images. We keep looking. Probing deeply. No blind acceptance or rejection, just patient investigation.
What happens when we genuinely examine whether experiences arise both from and within awareness? When we question if there’s truly any separation between observer and observed?
At first, nothing. The trees remain just trees.
Then something shifts. Like the dinosaur leaping into focus, the truth reveals itself. Not through intellectual understanding but through direct recognition. What seemed like separate objects suddenly appears as movements within consciousness itself.
As A Course in Miracles reminds us: “Perception is a mirror, not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.” The more we practice looking beyond surface appearances, the more quickly we recognize the singular awareness from which everything arises.
The dinosaur was always there. We just needed to learn how to see it.
Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll explore practices for revealing what’s been hiding in plain sight and discover the profound peace that follows recognition. I look forward to seeing you then.