“Thought creates the world then says ‘I didn't do it’”

David Bohm, Quantum physicist

“Now in a dream, our mind continuously does this… We create and perceive our world simultaneously… And our mind does this so well that we don't even know it's happening…”

These words are spoken by Leonardo DiCaprio, playing Cobb, in the film Inception (2010, Warner Bros. Pictures). He's explaining how dreams work, but our waking experience is generated in exactly the same way (albeit with access to a “live data feed”). To paraphrase Cobb:

“In your waking experience of reality, your mind continuously creates and perceives a world simultaneously… So well that you don't feel your mind doing the creating.”

The implications of this can be truly shocking. It means that 100% of your experience of the world “out there” is being generated from inside you, incorporating data received by the senses to a greater or lesser degree (depending on your focus of attention).

For example, a person can be asleep and dreaming that they're in the front row at a rock concert, only to wake up and discover that the music in their dream was coming from the radio next to their bed. Conversely, a person can be sitting in a business meeting, but have their focus of attention entirely absorbed by a daydream about a future holiday. Whether the data is arriving from your senses, your memories, or your imagination, the process that's generating your perceptual experience is the same.

Our experience of reality is, quite literally, created from “the stuff that dreams are made of”.

Energy streams in through all our senses simultaneously as raw data, in much the same way data flows into a computer through a USB port. The mind then creates a model of “what must be out there for me to be receiving this data.” This model is what's “represented” to us in consciousness.

As you look at the Kanizsa Triangle, raw data from the image is intercepted by your eyes and transmitted to your brain. Your brain enhances the data, filling in the gaps and voila! The perceptual reality generated by your mind includes an illusory white triangle that doesn't exist in material reality.

Of course, the power of THOUGHT isn't just limited to our visual experience. While we've used the visual metaphor of pixels for explanatory purposes, our experiences of sound, smell, taste, and touch are also “constructed” from THOUGHT. So are our feelings and emotions.

THOUGHT is the reality principle…

We're born into THOUGHT, just as we're born into gravity. Our perceptual experience is 100% mind-made, using THOUGHT, the reality principle.

People are literally able to think anything and experience it as real: Two people watching the same movie can have two completely different experiences of it, thanks to the power of THOUGHT. Similarly, a person with a phobia uses THOUGHT to create the experience of an imminent plane crash, a spider bite or a dog attack. A person doing a job can feel inspired and energized, while the person sitting next to them feels stressed and unhappy doing exactly the same work. Both of them create their unique experience using THOUGHT. A person can become convinced that their partner is cheating on them, regardless of the reality of the situation. They create their perception using THOUGHT, then experience it as real. Someone can have a richly enjoyable experience, anticipating a holiday that they're planning to go on. THOUGHT is making that enjoyable experience possible, even if the holiday ends up being cancelled!

I'm not saying that we're doing this deliberately or consciously. I'm merely pointing to the capacity people have to create literally any perception using the incredible power of THOUGHT, and then experience that perception as real. This is how our experience is created, and we're using this capacity every moment of our lives.

The reason this is so relevant when it comes to escaping from the hidden hamster wheel and experiencing increasing levels of clarity is this:

100% of our experience of reality is mind-made. If a person believes they need X, Y or Z in order to feel A, B or C, then they will experience that as a perceptual reality. That's how powerful THOUGHT is.

Do you remember the structure of the superstition/misunderstanding from Chapter One?

[circumstance] causes [core state]

THOUGHT has the power to bring each of the different permutations of this contaminated formula to life, and have a person experience it as an experiential reality. THOUGHT is like the special-effects department of a movie studio. Its job is to create a perceptual reality that looks, sounds and feels real, regardless of the “facts” of the situation. But we can all think of times when we “knew” something to be true, then later discovered it was an illusion, because…

Your THOUGHT-generated perceptual reality always seems real! That's its job. The sign of high-quality special effects is that you can't tell they're special effects!

And THOUGHT is the best special-effects department in the world.

So how does knowing this help us? And what does it have to do with clarity?

It turns out that the biggest obstacle to clarity is the result of a kind of “mental magic trick”. Like so many magic tricks, its workings have been a secret until now. But it's time to reveal how the trick works…