By Gonny (Based on ACIM: C.3, section V)
You walk into a situation, a conversation, a memory. Before you even realize it, your mind, in less than two seconds, has already decided what’s better, what’s worse, who is right, who is wrong, what should have happened instead. Subtle, almost silent, but always active. This is perception.
At first glance, it might seem like perception is how we navigate the world. Isn’t it practical? Necessary, even? But the Course gently reveals something deeper: Perception is not knowledge. It is not a reflection of truth. It is a filter based on past learning, fear, and the idea of separation.
To perceive anything at all, we must believe in inequality. That’s the root of it all: better or worse, safer or more dangerous, worthy or unworthy. Every comparison…even the most subtle…holds the seed of division. So to perceive is to separate, to select, to value one thing over another.
And that means: to judge.
But now a big question:
“What happens to perceptions if there are no judgments and nothing but perfect equality? Does perception becomes impossible?“
Yes.
This is not a small idea. It is a portal.
Because…if perception is built on judgment, and judgment creates separation, then the collapse of perception must lead to something else entirely.
Not emptiness …but wholeness.
Not confusion…but clarity. A clarity beyond comparison. Beyond the need to figure anything out.
Without judgment, there is no filter. No veil. Just a stillness in which all things are equally accepted. Equally loved.
This is not a mental trick, nor an ethical principle. It is a practice. A training of the mind. A soft, repeated choice to withhold judgment, not by suppressing it, but by questioning its necessity.
And make no mistake: this is a big spiritual work. Even experienced teachers will admit how deeply ingrained the habit of judgment is.
It hides in spiritual language, in self-improvement, even in the way we think about healing.
But here’s the good news: it can be unlearned.
The Course does not ask for perfection. It asks for willingness.
Willingness to pause.
Willingness to ask for help.
Willingness to see with new eyes.
In paragraph 6, there’s a line about prayer:
“The prayer for forgiveness is nothing more than a request that you may be able to recognize what you already have.”
This is also true of perception. The shift is not toward something new, but toward recognizing the truth that has always been present, hidden beneath our interpretations.
So what now?
Begin here:
When you notice a judgment arise about someone, something, or even yourself : pause and take a breath.
And ask: What would this look like if I didn’t compare it?
Not better. Not worse. Just as it is.
You might be surprised what comes through that small opening.
What comes through is not just peace.
It is the undoing of separation.
It is the beginning of Oneness.
And that…quietly, gently…changes everything.
With love and light,
G.