A big part of our suffering comes from our sense of identification with perception.
The lens through which we perceive and conceive of reality in a given moment is often a result of accumulated implicit memories and meanings created in childhood, as well as through impactful experiences.
Our brains love prediction. And, therefore, they are constantly trying to match a current experience with something familiar from the past.
This means we are constantly – unconsciously and automatically – projecting what feels familiar onto present-moment experiences. Whether past experiences were healthy or painful, we still find security in what feels familiar.
There is a certain degree of effort in breaking the spell of perception and seeing the current situation freshly and for what it really is, as it requires us to dis-identify from our current projections and familiar ways of perceiving reality.
The kind of effort required is that of dis-identifying from the contents of our experience and, instead, dropping into the felt sense in the body, which is prior to any labelling, thoughts or concepts.
Reality lives in the dynamic field of experience as it manifests in and through the felt sense in the body – the murky, unclear and unformed field – that is constantly changing, being born and dying moment to moment.
This movement away from our familiar ways of perceiving an experience and into the intricacy of the present-moment experience gives birth to a different kind of knowing that is beyond what feels familiar – it is direct, clear, fresh and not bound to the expectations of our inner or outer authorities.
This shift in perception leads to a profound sense of freedom, as it enables us to not only see a person or a situation clearly, but also allows for a profound sense of authenticity, freshness and truth to unfold.
