In our last CBT class on CBT and Perception, we explained how Consciousness, being the decisive factor, is the ultimate factor behind perception. We explained that both the why of perception and a shift in perception are dependent upon consciousness. This scientific fact is evident in the conceptualization of perception, itself. Let’s take a look at two of such definitions:
1. Perception is defined as “Becoming aware of something through our senses.” There are three keywords in this definition: “Becoming” which denotes movement, shift, change. The 2nd keyword in this first definition is, “Awareness,” which is the concept most of us know or allude to when we talk about consciousness. The 3rd keyword in this first definition of perception is “Senses,” of which the most commonly known are five: touch, smell, taste, seeing, and hearing. One reason why “senses” is a keyword in this first definition is because of the relationship and order, both of which are often misunderstood. While the information is presented to our senses, it is not readily available to us because it is not in our awareness or our consciousness until it has been processed. This whole processing is, in turn, mainly mediated by our decisive factor – our consciousness.
The second definition helps make the above even clearer. Let us take a look:
2. Perception is defined as, “The organization, identification, interpretation of our senses’ information for the representation and understanding of the presented information or environment.” This second definition completes the first one, further explains it, and helps summarize why Consciousness is the key ingredient in CBT, and therefore why it is the decisive factor for our cognitive functions and mental processes, including perception. Let us look at some of the keywords in that second definition.
“Organization.” As stated above, the information is presented to our senses but first, it needs to be processed by our brain before it becomes available for use. The first step in this process is the “organization” of such presented information. Now the key questions are, “how is this information organized? Who’s deciding the how, the when, and the why?” And as you can guess, the answer is – our Consciousness.
Our state or level of consciousness will determine whether we become aware of the information presented to our senses or not. Have you ever been working on a deadline, which required you to work nonstop long hours, with little sleep, little food, little of anything else you would normally need? Have you noticed that during those times all you focus on is making the deadline? Have you noticed that the moment you have made the deadline and you are done, all you want to do is sleep, or eat, or perhaps, you start to feel exhausted, and maybe your body even starts to ache? Do you think all these sensations just happened overnight? Or, do you think all that information had been present to your senses, but because of how it was organized you barely became aware of it? Well, it was organized in such a way that it was not identified because of the state of consciousness you were at. The moment your state of consciousness shifted, the information presented to your senses became organized in a different way. You may have also noticed that at these times the experience of exhaustion, sleepiness and all, did not happen right away, but took some time to register after completing the project. This is because that high state of consciousness you were in while working on the project lingered a bit. It also means that should you have needed to continue to work on the project any longer, you would have been able to do so.
“Identification.” No information presented to the senses becomes identified before having first been organized. The “organization” will then determine whether it is identified or not, and this is all related to our our state of consciousness being paired up with a specific set of beliefs. If we have a deadline to make and have no option but make that deadline, then we have to do it and we will do it. Our state of consciousness determines what sensorial information is identified accordingly. Now, the third step in the process may be the one most of us are most familiar with, “interpretation.”
Yes, the information is presented to our senses. It first needs to be organized. Once organized, the decision is made to identify such information or not. If and when it is identified, another decision has to be made. It is the decision of how such information is identified, understood, represented. In other words, it is the decision of what meaning is to be assigned to it, how important it is to be, and how it is to be used. This all takes place through the third step in the process, which is the step of interpretation, while the whole decision process is being guided by Consciousness.
A very common tenet in CBT is this, “One’s perception of a situation, rather than the situation itself, determines the feelings and behaviors that follow.” This is because through the process of perception we interpret the situation. This interpretation indeed dictates whether we focus on the situation or not, how we focus on it, what associative thoughts come along, and, therefore what feelings and behaviors will follow.
What many of us may have failed to appreciate is that interpretation is preceded by the identification of information related to the situation, which in turn is preceded by the organization of information related to the situation, all of which have been decided upon by Consciousness.
The next keyword here is “information.” It is not the “situation,” but “information” related to the situation that gets organized, identified, and interpreted. This is one of the ultimate reasons why situations are neutral. They have no intrinsic power or meaning, and t is only the information about them that is being used in the process. Now, what type of information gets used, once again is decided by Consciousness.
We understand the world based on our state of consciousness. We are unable to understand the world outside our state of consciousness. And, a different understanding of the world requires a different state of Consciousness.
What does this all mean? It means if the world that is being represented to us is one that we are not really enjoying, one we are not really fond of it, or one that seems to bear more suffering than fulfillment, then we ought to look in one place and one place only – Our state of Consciousness. The great news is that there are steps to help anyone shift their state of Consciousness, and we will be looking into them in subsequent articles.
Meanwhile, let us remember this: Thought is the operant factor in our lives. Our regular thoughts become our beliefs. And our beliefs match our state of consciousness. This means while consciousness is the most important ingredient, there are a number of indirect ways to go about shifting it. One of them is by becoming aware of which state of consciousness are we operating from. And we can do so by paying attention to our beliefs, through our thoughts, via our cognitive errors or distortions.
It will be, therefore, extremely helpful for us to become familiar with the cognitive errors that we all make as we go about our day. This will help inform where we are. This will help inform how we are doing. And, this will help inform what predominant state of consciousness we are at and how we can take some steps to shift it.
This week, Wednesday, October 14th, 7-9pm EDT will be on CBT and Cognitive Distortions. The more we understand how we think, the more we will understand Consciousness and how to make it work for us.
Are you up for the challenge? We know you are. We congratulate you. And we thank you for who you are being.
See you soon,
Karen and Mardoche