Meditate | "Lord Willing!"

“The ignorance about [perception] is so great that people are capable of believing it to be a kind of ongoing revelation, or else something instinctive. Some suppose that it is no more than make-believe, while others have other ideas. Yet perception is the epitome of the heavenly character that the Lord gives to those who have a loving belief in him” (Secrets of Heaven 536).

I feel like I’ve fallen under the idea before—and translated it into my whole life—that perception is “ongoing revelation.” Life—once it’s all in order, once I’m ‘living the heavenly life’—always will feel good. It will be just an ongoing experience of blissful revelation—joy, perpetual good feelings, wise insights, the whole bit. But perception is not ongoing revelation. Thank goodness, really, because being under the impression that my life is somehow meant to have a relentless effusion of positivity, and being faced with the reality that it clearly doesn’t, is a combination ripe to get me feeling down. So what is perception? Something instinctive? Yeah, I’ve fallen for that one, too.

Imagining perception to be something instinctive makes me think that is about getting entry: once I’m in—once the Lord turns perception “on” in me—then it will be there and perception will be made my instinct. If this is the case, then I obviously have yet to have that light turned on, or my wiring is screwy, because “this little light of mine” seems to flicker. So do I really lack perception? Thankfully, it is not something instinctive.

Learning that perception is not ‘ongoing revelation’, nor something instinctive, leads me to think that choice is a big part of having perception. Somehow we participate in our perception. This passage defines it as the epitome of the heavenly character. Rather than conceiving of perception as some high and lofty capability far beyond my aptitude, maybe it is something far more accessible—maybe perception is what happens when I choose daily to acknowledge the Lord’s power in my life and surrender my will to his. Defining perception this way mercifully allows for the fact that I cycle in and out of feeling loving and thoughtful toward others, myself, and about life in general. Daily I take the time, however briefly, to feel and acknowledge the power and presence of the Lord within, but that doesn’t mean there will be a sustained alignment between my inner and outer self. Life is much more dynamic than that. Perhaps perception is the pliable, resilient stuff of connection—our individual relationship with the Lord. 

Comments

[Alanna]

Nice thoughts Chelsea. I would love to read a series of posts on perception that take many different passages where Swedenborg talks of it, because it feels like a valuable thing to look into deeply. I have shared all of those views of what perception is (isn't), and have very little confidence that I have any better idea of what it is now because 'epitome of the heavenly character' is so enigmatic. I do enjoy that it could be any number of things within that broad definition. I wonder if Swedenborg ever defines it more clearly. Thanks!