Perception and Dissociation, the Keys to Enlightened Reality

Achieving Clarity and Autonomy From the Perceptual Awareness Gained Through Dissociation

Perception is reality.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Hindsight is 20/20.”

Too often, true understanding and clarity about yourself, your reality, and the people around you doesn’t come about until after you’ve exited the circumstance you were in or closed that chapter in your life.

Too often, you need to remove yourself from the situation to change your point of perception and create awareness.

And too often, this expanded view comes too little, too late.

Like the clarity that comes after the death of a loved one. The major event of a loved one’s passing disrupts our normal way of thinking, and it’s only then that we dissociate from our sense of self to begin to see what really matters. We expand beyond the boundaries of our previously small, self-centric mindset and can see the objective truths we were once blind to. For instance, we might kick ourselves for the petty fights we had with our loved one and regret not telling them how much we loved them. This new perspective pushes us past our personal hang ups and biases.

There’s no need to wait to evaluate it in hindsight. You can achieve clarity and realize the full, unbiased meaning of something in the present moment.

Gaining full awareness of a situation usually requires you to go through something substantial to disrupt the typical neural pathways of your mind. Objectivity that’s free of bias and ego influence can also be achieved through dissociation. In fact, dissociation is linked to spiritual awakening. It can be a valuable tool in your journey to enlightenment.

Understanding how your perception is formed and healthy applications of dissociation can turn “hindsight is 20/20” into “present sight is 20/20”; not to mention, aide you along the path of spiritual awakening.

Higher Resonance, Higher Consciousness, Higher Perception

The Map of Consciousness categorizes human consciousness across various levels. It offers a framework for personal growth towards elevated states, cultivating greater joy, liberation, and the power to create meaningful change.

The average person is living their life on the lower scale of the Map of Consciousness and are driven by things like desire, pride, guilt or fear. All of which are self-centric and heavily impacting one’s perspective with bias of ego. People who resonate at these lower frequencies are operating with closed-loop neural pathways, making it difficult to expand beyond these pathways to unlock new insights and understandings. Their view of reality is masked in the themes of the state they’re in.

The higher a person ascends the Map of Consciousness towards a state of Enlightenment, the clearer they can see the truth of a situation. This is because of changes that range from the application of one’s ego, to the ability to master one’s brain wave states to their advantage, to going beyond normal neural processes and expanding one’s consciousness.

People who’ve risen above the lower states of existence can gain the objectivity, truth, clarity, and understanding that most people can only achieve with time and distance after a situation has concluded. They can do so while a situation is presently unfolding, without waiting months or years to view it in hindsight.

Raising your frequency and climbing the energetic ladder to a high-resonating state can alter your perspective beyond the limitations of your ego and personal view of yourself.

Your View of Yourself Shapes Your Reality

The way you process information and the lens through which you view your reality are dependent factors of your self-image. In other words, your inner self dictates the very reality you experience.

Perception is the process of interpreting sensory information.
Perspective is the lens through which we view the world.

Take this example:

You’re having a bad day. You woke up late for work. You were rushed to get out the door, and first the coffee maker wouldn’t work. After you finally got it to work, the lid of your coffee travel mug wouldn’t close properly, so you’re adorning coffee splatter on your new outfit with no time to change. On today of all possible days, today is the day that there are accidents on every possible route to the office. As if that wasn’t enough, your car so kindly lit the Check Engine light to let you know there’s a problem. Your phone keeps ringing. You glance down at the screen, trying not to wreck in this stop-and-go traffic, and see your boss’s name display repeatedly.

It feels like everything is happening against you like life is on a mission to make your life difficult. Like no matter what you do, you can’t win.

You’re frustrated, overwhelmed, and defeated, and it’s starting to shift your present reality. That song on the radio that never fails to put a smile on your face is suddenly an annoyance. The car that you’re so proud of saving up to buy is now a burden, as you think about the hundreds of dollars you’ll have to spend on new tires soon, how your brakes are squeaking, and the interior is in desperate need of being cleaned. Instead of reminding yourself that things are OK and coming up with solutions (like changing the radio station or getting a quick car wash after work), your mind is focusing on everything that’s going wrong.

The things you see, hear, and experience are being filtered through this lens of anger, frustration, and inadequacy. You’re stuck in a negative feedback loop, and it has hijacked your perspective.

We don’t see things as they are.
We see things as we are.

Your friend reaches out and asks, “How are you?” But this only holds a mirror up to yourself and reminds you what a hot mess you are. You miss the genuine intent your friend is expressing – a positive attempt to connect – and your awareness is placed on your circumstances of how crappy your day has been.

They offer to console you by sharing exciting news that they’ve won tickets to see your favorite band and invite you to the concert. This should be enough to snap you out of it and melt your worries away. But thanks to your negative perceptual set, you can’t respond with an apathetic, “Good for you. Have fun at your concert. I’m too busy [or broke] and will be at home by myself going through bills.”

While these negative things flood your mind, you’re missing out on the blessings life’s trying to give you like going to an awesome concert of your favorite band – a concert that, if you prioritized attending it, you’d feel better from the cathartic experience – or the effort your dear friend is making to cheer you up and how lucky you are to have their support.

This is because of something called your perceptual set.

“Perception can also be influenced by an individual’s expectations, motives, and interests. The term perceptual set refers to the tendency to perceive objects or situations from a particular frame of reference,” explains the textbook Discovering Psychology by psychologists Susan Nolan and Sandra Hockenbury.

The temporary events of your bad day have pervaded your way of thinking. Negativity has permeated your mindset and overpowered your beliefs, principles, and values that should be guiding you to retain a level of self-awareness and autonomy.

You’re only seeing the things you perceive to be relevant to you, because your perception is muddied by your current state and your perspective is a reflection of your inner self.

Since your mood is doom-and-gloom from your bad day, you’re seeing the doom-and-gloom in things.

If your mind is a dumpster fire, that is what your perceptual set will influence your view of the world to be.

The colorless gray glasses won’t come off to reveal the vibrance of the world around you until your perception of yourself changes.

Do you see a duck or a rabbit?
The reality that you perceive in this image is determined by your perceptual set, which influences the way you see the world.

Your reality is viewed with a lens that only sees things that resonate with the current frequency state you’re in. Being mindful of the Map of Consciousness from earlier is an important factor in what the reality of your life will be.

As they say: As within, so without.

As Within, So Without: Using Your Inner State to Attract and Manifest a Better Life

“As within, so without, as above, so below, as the universe, so the soul.”
— Unknown

What you see as reality is actually a personalized reflection of your sense of self.

Your ego is designed to take the raw data of what you experience (e.g., the words that are spoken, the actions that you witness, the perceived impact on you) and process the information through a lens of self-perception. This lens is colored by your personal history, beliefs, and biases.

This can make it difficult to see something as it really is and view it free of partiality and bias from your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual state.

The lesson here is to not allow temporary circumstance to impact your reality.

We are powerful co-creators; created as the ultimate sensory machines and designed to interact with the vibration and frequency of our universe, and bring about the reality we desire. So, when you expect the worst, you’ll see the worst in yourself, the people you interact with, and the world around you. Subsequently, you risk unintentionally manifesting a future reality – a self-fulfilling prophecy – that’s the epitome of “the worst of the worst.”

Alternatively, when you expect the best and see the best in yourself, you’ll find positivity in the world around you and view reality in the best light.

Your resonance, that is, the frequency of your current state, will follow the Law of Attraction and call in people, situations, and things of equal or greater frequency.

Looking back at the Map of Consciousness, if you’re exhibiting a state of joy at a log of 540, your view of life will be one of completeness and serenity. You’ll notice the events of your life being ones of love, joy, and peace — the states closest to your current resonance.

A Note on Resonance

Something is only effective when it resonates.

When two people argue, a factor in the miscommunication are the different frequencies at which they’re resonating. If Jill is operating from a state of Love and Reason, while Jack is down in the dumps with feelings of Shame and Guilt, they’re not going to be able to hear one another. They’re on two different levels. The only way to reach resolution is by finding common ground. Likely, Jill will lift Jack up from his low resonance state and Jack will ask Jill to come down a few levels so they can see eye to eye.

A relationship is only effective when the frequencies match. The energy of two individuals in a relationship must match in order for them to get along in a productive way that results in shared phenomenon like telepathy, rapid manifestation, and high-level empathy.

This principle holds true for anything in life. It is one of the universal patterns or laws by which our world is governed.

Whether in a material, physical example in the world or a non-physical, intangible scenario dealing with something like emotion or social constructs, the key to something being effective is by aligning frequencies of the two forces.

Changing Your Perceptual Set With Dissociation

So, how do you modify your perceptual set to maintain a balanced, holistic view of the world? How do you ensure an objective perspective? The answer lies in the moderation of your perceptual functions.

You can keep your perceptual processes free of bias and ego through practices like dissociation.

Dissociation offers a path to maintain a perspective that’s not influenced by your ego or by perceptual sets that are governed by personal experiences, attitudes, or beliefs. Using prudence and diligence to detach your embedded beliefs and emotional convictions from your thought process, you can eliminate the distorting influences and overcomplications that impede your view of yourself and of reality.

Historically, dissociation has been viewed as a negative state of detachment because it can be unhealthy when it severely impairs a person’s ability to integrate their thoughts, memories, and emotions with their reality and identity to the point that it causes problems in their daily life.

However, new research suggests that dissociation can be the key to unlocking new understanding; the source of pure objective meaning for faster, more effective healing. Studies have been conducted to explore the effectiveness of dissociative substances on mental health. In clinical settings, dissociative substances – that is, substances that have dissociative effects on a person – can be used as therapeutic treatment of depression and anxiety.

Dissociation and Disassociation: What’s the difference?

Dissociation is a technical term in psychology. It describes a mental process where there’s a disruption in the usual connection between your thoughts, feelings, memories, and sense of self.

Dissociation can manifest in various ways, like:

• Daydreaming to the extreme. Zoning out completely, losing track of time, and feeling detached from your surroundings.
• Feeling like an observer in your own life. Experiencing a sense of unreality, as if you’re watching your life unfold from a distance.
• Memory lapses or foggy memories. Difficulty recalling specific events or periods of your life.

Disassociation has a more general meaning that can be applied to anything outside of psychology. It refers to one’s conscious choice to stop associating or disconnecting from a feeling or emotion.

Disassociation can be found in examples like:

• Separating from a toxic friend. You might choose to end a friendship that’s no longer healthy for you and disassociate from them.
• A chemical reaction causing disassociation of molecules. In chemistry, disassociation describes the separation of a molecule into smaller components.

The Value of Disassociation in Daily Life

To see the value of disassociation, let’s go back to the example at the beginning of this article: the passing of a loved one to. In the immediate wake of a loss, emotions run high and make forming an objective understanding nearly impossible. However, with time and the necessary space, a shift begins to occur.

When we disassociate from the daily interactions and emotional entanglements, we can see the deceased and our relationship with them more clearly. The raw information of their actions and words can now come into focus, unclouded by the emotional immediacy of the moment.

This phenomenon, often referred to as the mirror effect, highlights the lessons we learn about ourselves through others. When someone is gone, we are left with a reflection – a chance to see how they mirrored aspects of ourselves, both positive and negative. This detached perspective allows for a deeper comprehension of who they were and, consequently, who we are.

Death, then, becomes a catalyst for a different kind of understanding. It allows us to disassociate from the immediate experience and view both the deceased and ourselves with newfound clarity. In this detachment lies the opportunity to shed the ego’s distortions and grasp the essence of who they were and the impact they had on us – a truth sometimes only revealed in the quiet stillness of their absence.

Creating New Awareness and Expanded Consciousness

Think back to the way your perception evolved from childhood. As a toddler, your world consisted of your mother and father, and maybe your daycare if you attended one. Your mindset was small and closed off – dissociated from the greater world around you. There’s no awareness of things like conflict in the Middle East, who the President is, or why gas prices are so high. When you were in this state, you weren’t aware of all the things you’re missing or lacking awareness of. It’s not until you’d grown older that you could look back and see how closed-off from the full reality of the world you truly were.

Looking back at your 3- or 4-year-old self, it’s clear how small your world was back then. But when you were that age in the present moment, you had no idea of this because you had no reference point to make the discernment between a small world versus a larger one. All you knew was the perception you had, and it took the act of developing a new point of perception for you to make the identification that your former perception was small/lacking/unaware. You needed that reference point to see this.

The same goes for dissociation. Just as age brought growth and awareness in your mindset, dissociation acts in the same way to grow your perception and expand your awareness. Dissociation disrupts your normal neural pathways. This disruption is how you achieve new levels of awareness and expansion of consciousness.

It’s through dissociation that you detach from our typical mindset long enough to experience things in a new way and discover a new understanding that’s beyond your typical state of perception.

The Benefit of Dissociation as a Tool For Enlightenment

Through dissociation, we can gain new understandings of where we stand to improve our cognitive processes, see bottlenecks in our beliefs and attitudes, and connect the dots of new revelations about our life purpose. Our daily life can be improved by enhancing our understanding of sensory processing and how we can use our spiritual gifts to maximize our existence. The list goes on and on; the possibilities that come about with breakthroughs in our perception are endless.

By offering an alternative view of your psyche, dissociation can let you see things in new ways that expand beyond the typical one-track mindset of oneself. Gaining this expanded perspective can free you from the subjectivity that skews and distorts your perception, so you can deepen your understanding of the world and see things for what they really are. Not through the filter of your self-image, but through the objective light of truth. It’s with this mindset that you’ll achieve the personal transformation you desire for a newfound sense of peace, clarity, and serenity.

TL;DR: Dissociation – whether through non-chemical mental practice or the aid of a therapeutic substance – is a valuable tool for awakening. It can supercharge one’s personal transformation and expand consciousness to new heights. Lessons can be learned. Traumas can be healed. New methods of thinking, coping, and perceiving can be unlocked. And we can break our conditional mindset to upgrade from unconditional love to universal love.