8 Gates ~ Chapter 7 ~ Knowledge / Perception ~ from the free eBook “Light of Be-ing”

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Knowledge / Perception – the belief in ones understanding and interpretation of their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual temporal experience of reality. It is the illusional ground and pillar of the concept of ones I-ego-self, mind, consciousness and awareness.

“The Way is not about knowing… or not-knowing.
Knowing is only delusion,
and not-knowing is merely blank consciousness.”
Nan-Ch’uan

Knowledge / Perception

We live in a age of information, where answers are literally just a click away. We are surrounded by it, day and night. From newspapers, magazines, radio, television, books, advertising, all bombarding our senses with mountains of data.

How does one sift through this ocean of images and voices, how does one make sense of it all. In our thirst for knowledge, we are drowning in a sea of information. Yet what exactly do we really know?

“Knowledge has three degrees — opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, logic; of the third, insight.”
Plotinus (205-270 A.D).

All knowledge and perception begins with the senses, which compares the data to established patterns of belief and opinion. If no match is found, it is then passed onto the reason and logic functions of the mind with its own set of filters and judgments.

In such a closed system, very little is actually untouched by filters, opinions, belief systems, judgments and the lenses of ego. At best, what one is left with is a collection of opinions supported by the belief systems, judgments and fears of the I-ego-self.

Even the most common knowledge and perception can be overruled in this system, as seen everyday all around us. Lost is the grounding effect of actual knowledge, reality viewed as it is without any of the artefacts of the I-ego-self.

As long as one relies solely on the so-called knowledge of the senses, the minds reasoning and logic, and the I-ego-self’s beliefs and judgments, one is a slave to their assumptions and misconceptions. It is in this illusional world of dreams that most are asleep.

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance,”
Confucius

To awaken, one only has to question and look past this facade. It is that spark of insight, this assertion of ones freedom to question, that illuminates. True knowledge frees the individual, awakens and enlivens on all levels, and reveals the dream for what it is.

Who you really are asks, “Can you transcend the dream world, its activities and nature, guided by insight, and be grounded in True Knowledge / Perception?