4 Ways of Conceiving Perception

Source: The Art of Perception (2016)

Mode	Stance	Conceptual Framework
Received	Passive	Realism: Mirrors the “real world.”
Gift/Grace	Receptive	Devotional: Receives the “divine gift.”
Opportunity	Active	Imaginal: Openings for the “soul’s journey.”
Redemptive Work	Creative	Alchemical: Heals the “disenchanted world.”

1. Perception as Received

“Perceptions are received from the reality of the world. They reflect or represent that reality.” This is the common modernist assumption where perception is a passive reflection of an objective, material world.

2. Perception as Gift or Grace

“Relate to perception—this is more subtle—as gift or grace from the divine, from God.” While still received, this view adds a “whole other dimensionality” to even the simplest experience, imbuing it with a sense of sanctity.

3. Perception as Opportunity

“Perception as opportunity. Through perceiving this way, through this cosmopoesis, through this image… there is opportunity.” Perception becomes a porta (door), an intentional opening for the heart, the being, and the soul. It is “a way of being” rather than a mere observation.

4. Perception as Redemptive Work

“Perception as redemptive work. Re-enchantment as redemptive work, from the disenchantment that’s so pervasive.” Through the “art of perception,” we actively “redeem” the world from the “flatland” of nihilism. Like a “work of art,” we labor to “transubstantiate” our sense of matter into “divine appearances.”