Perception is a Choice

One of the most challenging concepts in A Course in Miracles is the idea that perception is something we make, not something we observe.

In other words, everything we experience is not the result of the various goings-on in the world and our body. Instead, what our senses witness to us comes from a choice we make in the mind.

This line from the Course makes it clear:

Perception is a choice and not a fact. (T-21.V.1)

When we choose the ego mind, everything we experience has the purpose of proving that we are here, that we can suffer, and that it’s not our fault. All the drama in our lives certainly bears that out.

But when we return to our mind and instead make a choice for the mind of love, then our perception is literally turned upside down. Everything we experience witnesses to our union with everything. We see no differences outside the superficialness of bodies. And we see our shared purpose to awaken from this nightmare dream of hell into loving embrace of Heaven.