III. Perception versus Knowledge

T-3.III.1. We have been emphasizing perception, and have said very little about knowledge as yet. ² This is because perception must be straightened out before you can know anything. ³ To know is to be certain. ⁴ Uncertainty means that you do not know. ⁵ Knowledge is power because it is certain, and certainty is strength. ⁶ Perception is temporary. ⁷ As an attribute of the belief in space and time, it is subject to either fear or love. ⁸ Misperceptions produce fear and true perceptions foster love, but neither brings certainty because all perception varies. ⁹ That is why it is not knowledge. ¹⁰ True perception is the basis for knowledge, but knowing is the affirmation of truth and beyond all perceptions.

T-3.III.2. All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself, your brother or God. ² To recognize means to "know again," implying that you knew before. ³ You can see in many ways because perception involves interpretation, and this means that it is not whole or consistent. ⁴ The miracle, being a way of perceiving, is not knowledge. ⁵ It is the right answer to a question, but you do not question when you know. ⁶ Questioning illusions is the first step in undoing them. ⁷ The miracle, or the right answer, corrects them. ⁸ Since perceptions change, their dependence on time is obvious. ⁹ How you perceive at any given time determines what you do, and actions must occur in time. ¹⁰ Knowledge is timeless, because certainty is not questionable. ¹¹ You know when you have ceased to ask questions.

T-3.III.3. The questioning mind perceives itself in time, and therefore looks for future answers. ² The closed mind believes the future and the present will be the same. ³ This establishes a seemingly stable state that is usually an attempt to counteract an underlying fear that the future will be worse than the present. ⁴ This fear inhibits the tendency to question at all.

T-3.III.4. True vision is the natural perception of spiritual sight, but it is still a correction rather than a fact. ² Spiritual sight is symbolic, and therefore not a device for knowing. ³ It is, however, a means of right perception, which brings it into the proper domain of the miracle. ⁴ A "vision of God" would be a miracle rather than a revelation. ⁵ The fact that perception is involved at all removes the experience from the realm of knowledge. ⁶ That is why visions, however holy, do not last.

T-3.III.5. The Bible tells you to know yourself, or to be certain. ² Certainty is always of God. ³ When you love someone you have perceived him as he is, and this makes it possible for you to know him. ⁴ Until you first perceive him as he is you cannot know him. ⁵ While you ask questions about him you are clearly implying that you do not know God. ⁶ Certainty does not require action. ⁷ When you say you are acting on the basis of knowledge, you are really confusing knowledge with perception. ⁸ Knowledge provides the strength for creative thinking, but not for right doing. ⁹ Perception, miracles and doing are closely related. ¹⁰ Knowledge is the result of revelation and induces only thought. ¹¹ Even in its most spiritualized form perception involves the body. ¹² Knowledge comes from the altar within and is timeless because it is certain. ¹³ To perceive the truth is not the same as to know it.

T-3.III.6. Right perception is necessary before God can communicate directly to His altars, which He established in His Sons. ² There He can communicate His certainty, and His knowledge will bring peace without question. ³ God is not a stranger to His Sons, and His Sons are not strangers to each other. ⁴ Knowledge preceded both perception and time, and will ultimately replace them. ⁵ That is the real meaning of "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," and "Before Abraham was I am." ⁶ Perception can and must be stabilized, but knowledge is stable. ⁷ "Fear God and keep His commandments" becomes "Know God and accept His certainty."

T-3.III.7. If you attack error in another, you will hurt yourself. ² You cannot know your brother when you attack him. ³ Attack is always made upon a stranger. ⁴ You are making him a stranger by misperceiving him, and so you cannot know him. ⁵ It is because you have made him a stranger that you are afraid of him. ⁶ Perceive him correctly so that you can know him. ⁷ There are no strangers in God's creation. ⁸ To create as He created you can create only what you know, and therefore accept as yours. ⁹ God knows His children with perfect certainty. ¹⁰ He created them by knowing them. ¹¹ He recognizes them perfectly. ¹² When they do not recognize each other, they do not recognize Him.