As human beings we are highly influenced, and even deceived, by the world around us. In our effort to understand our place in the universe, the general approach has hitherto been that we are observers of an objective universe. A universe that exists independently of us. In short, that life is happening “to us”.

In the 1700s German Philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed a distinction between what he called the noumenon (the thing itself) and the phenomenon (our perception of the thing). According to Kantian philosophy, the only reality we can know is that which we create in our minds through our perception (the phenomenon).

Revelations in science and phenomenology have led us to change the view of an objective universe to a totally subjective one. One in which we are participates in the process of creation of our lives. Evidently, this has long been known because even the Christian Bible tells us not to be taken in by appearances. “Judge not by appearance, but by righteous judgement,” and “So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

Recently, I’ve been purporting a new mantra which is: “We’ve got to change the way we see things”.

In Unity we teach that we create our own experiences based on what we believe. These beliefs are grounded, to a large extent, in what we perceive. Our perceptions and beliefs thus become our reality. We say: “Change your mind, change your world”. A variation of this might be: “Change your perception and your world will change.”