The Role of Perception on Global Consciousness
“Sovereignty lights the way to joy.”
~TARASA B. LOVICK
This past year, humanity has faced many world-shifting events, and many of them have been feeding collective fears. Australian bushfires (burned over 47 million acres), and US west coast wildfires (burned 5.8 million acres). In the UK, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down and moved to the US. The World Health Organization declared the Wuhan virus a global health emergency, essentially shutting down the world. The counter-movement, called Plandemic, perceives WHO and others to be so desperate to grab power that they have manufactured a pandemic to endorse heinous crimes against humanity: it’s asking for facts, not fear. US President Donald J. Trump was vindicated on both articles of impeachment against him. The US voting system is on trial for massive and corrupt election fraud. The media has suppressed and censored any opposing voices; for example, YouTube has banned all creators who challenge the media’s results of the 2020 US Presidential Election. The world faces human beings being used in unprecedented experimental vaccine trials without valid scientific examination. Big Pharma is raking in billions of dollars and, at the same time, being given a free license to experiment on humanity (not unlike Agent Orange and Roundup). Meanwhile, the evidence is insufficient to validate the need for a COVID vaccine since affordable and available therapeutics work superbly.
Face masks are a metaphor that represents the role of perception in global consciousness. They give us a clue as to how awake the population is to the geopolitical changes the world is facing. Some people see face masks as a symbol of obedience and submission to an illegitimate and criminal authority. Others see face masks differently, considering them an altruistic inconvenience that serves a broader public health interest. The fact is that face masks are being positioned as a safety issue, which is controversial, while the media is presenting wearing face masks as necessary. The result is that we live in a world of polarized opinion. The masks will all be gone soon enough, but there will be new changes and challenges.
These and many other events have raised questions about the world's future and direction.
Our worldviews now have an extra dimension, which could be characterized by how “awake” humanity is to the geopolitical changes we are experiencing. The risk is pandering to the extremes and forgetting that most people are in the middle. While aligning with causes like Black Lives Matter is anyone's right, in the present circumstances, it is unwise to align with any institution or activity that may be tainted with corruption or violence.
Contemporary spiritual leaders might see the world through the lens of the level of consciousness: the enlightened, the awakening, the sleeping, and the comatose. Conscious spiritual leaders will recognize that these general groups are shifting daily, and shocking events, like massive voter fraud, may alter them instantaneously. After all, world events trigger responses based on perceptions.
One thing is clear: world events are a great theater that garners expressions of perceptions, illusions, and projections of opinions.
There is no supposed spiritual attitude about world events, as multiple options exist. It takes inner discipline and surrender of attitudes to avoid the temptation to identify with a position about world events. Enlightened leaders like Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, Mother Theresa, and others have shown us how to align with divine love by dedicating their lives to spiritual evolution. We are not alone.
What Albert Einstein said puts perceptions in perspective, “The bigotry of the nonbelievers is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.” Everything is affected by the conditions and instruments of perception. Perception is the interpretation of reality that an individual comes up with via awareness or lack thereof. It is through one’s individual perspectives that one's perception is created.
There is no such thing as objectivity at the finest levels of perception.
Perception has several influences, such as the message, the tone, and a person's attitudes, beliefs, and opinions, and all of these are informed by culture (the unspoken rules that signal meaning). Moreover, there are deep, sometimes unconscious, reasons why you perceive something the way you do. Your perceptions and reality direct your thinking. Thinking controls your decisions and, ultimately, your behavior. The average person makes thousands of decisions a day. How one validates the information depends on one's perception and reality. Perception and reality coexist, and each can distort the truth.
So, what can you do to protect yourselves from distortions?
There are three simple steps you can take to cultivate an open heart-mind. First, you can have faith in humanity by giving people the benefit of the doubt. Second, you can create space, allowing you to cultivate inner peace and harmony. These are developed through implementing exercises such as mindfulness practice, praying, meditating, being grateful, or surrendering to God. And finally, it’s helpful to understand that the brain doesn’t mirror reality; the brain constructs reality based on context. That’s why you can interpret information entirely differently than someone else. Accepting this, you can move toward higher consciousness and compassion. Empathy makes you vulnerable, and it allows you to be compassionate.
Only through compassion do you have the opportunity to move away from the dehumanization and polarization of fear and hate in yourself, as well as in the world.
There is no such thing as absolute truth because humans make errors that lead to flawed thinking. Absolute truth has no perception. So what can you do? There are at least five things you can do. First, you can be aware and open to possibilities. Second, you can be curious and ask questions like: what’s the lesson? What truth is this truth; does it matter to me? Third, you free yourself of mental distortions by being in command of your emotions, using discernment, listening without opinions, and asking, “Is it true?” Fourth, you can be you; you can trust yourself. You choose how to make your decisions. You can ask, “How do I engage with others in a respectful manner that serves both of us? Lastly, you can agree to disagree when your perceptions are blinding you.
When you live from peace inside your heart, you remember whose sovereign. The contemporary spiritual leader must inquire, “Who is the real ‘you’ that decides?”