What The Mind Knows

Sitting on the back porch, I kept glancing over to my right where I could see a brownish “haze” under the weeping spruce tree. It kept distracting me because I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Forty tons of dirt ..

Thinking that the rain or the early morning light was doing something funny to my vision, I looked, and looked, and wondered why I had never seen either a big brown bush or a lower dead limb on the tree.

I was distracted the entire time I sat there, until I suddenly recalled that we had a forty tons of dirt dumped there the day before that we would be using to even out the ground in that area.

Immediately my focus cleared, and I saw the big pile of dirt, no longer a brown “haze”.

Earlier that morning, looking out our front window I saw a bush I had never seen before. It was dark, but still, this is a garden I work in every day. How could there be a bush there? I knew that the day before what was there was a big blooming clump of chives.

Once I remembered that there were chives there, I saw that it was not a new bush but the clump of chives spread out from the driving rain the night before.

Blooming chives .. looking like a bush..

Two reminders that the mind cannot see what it does not know.

This is good to know, for two reasons. One, if we want to see something, we need to learn how to see what is already there. And, two, if we do see something, we can rest assured that we already possess it because, once again, the mind does not see what it does not know.

How does this apply to everyday life? Let’s take the first idea. If we want to see something, we need to learn how to see what is already there. Yes, I am making the valid assumption that everything is already present, and we just don’t see it because we don’t know it.

This is a valid assumption because it is easily proven. From quantum physics to spiritual awareness, we know that the moment something is known, or thought, it is.

Given this, what do we want to see that we are not seeing? Let’s say we want to see more wealth, in all its forms in our life. “In all its forms” is a key statement because that is the place to start.

How many forms of wealth are there? Is it just that green stuff we exchange and call money, or is it also the leaves on the trees, a neighbor’s kindness, a found treasure, a hug, a gift? Yes, each one of these symbols, and the infinite number of other symbols like this, are all wealth.

Instead of shying away from observing wealth, we must learn to observe it. As we see wealth, acknowledge it, become grateful for what we see, whether it appears as our own wealth or another’s, then the doors of perception begin to open and wealth appears in all its forms and becomes visible and useable to us.

The brown haze transforms to a visible recognition of what is actually present.

The second idea follows the first. If we have seen it, then it follows that we know it, which means that it is ours now. If we hunger, it is because we already know about food. If we desire beauty, it is because we already know beauty. If we long for love, it is because we already have love within.

Once we accept this as a truth, then the need for something no longer frightens us, it encourages us to learn more about what we feel we need. It deepens our commitment to look for, honor, and understand the true substance of what we want.

As we do this, our mind knows what to see and find, or in Truth – reveal. In this perception shift, once again, we discover that what we need is already present, but often not exactly in the package we were looking for, which brings us back to our first idea. We need to know, in order to see.

While I was staining the deck, I sent Del into the garage to get the wood putty to fill in the holes that were in the deck. When he didn’t come back right away, I went to help him. I found the wood putty in just a few seconds. Why did I find it right away, and he didn’t? It’s not what you think. It is because I knew what the container looked like, and he was looking for the kind of container it used to come in.

We looked in the same place, but his mind expected to see the wood putty one way, and mine expected to see it another.

Woodputty hiding in the garage.

Do you see the implications of this? Yes, what “we perceive to be reality magnifies”. Being responsible for expanding our perceptions, beginning with the reality we wish to live within, we take the time to constantly upgrade our perceptions through awareness and gratitude, and as a result, wealth in all its forms becomes visible.

Within this perception there is no need for greed, panic or fear, there is only grateful anticipation for the revelation of the abundance that is already present for everyone equally and consistently.

Our job then becomes one of learning about the substance of Spirit, opening our vision, shifting our point of view perception to one of infinite, intelligent Love, and our state of mind perception to gratitude for Its provision.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.” William Blake

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