Finding your focus can be difficult in a distracted world. Every day, it seems like we are bombarded by a vast array of sensory stimuli, moving faster and faster each day. Techniques like meditation can help us to filter, but what are we to do when things come to a head?
In a time of such great acceleration, it turns out that it takes more than force to find your focus. Instead of listening louder or looking harder, we are being called to develop an entirely new geometry of perception, says Penny Peirce in her book Leap of Perception. It’s all about “spherical holographic perception,” a geometry of perception that is structured to illuminate life for its deeper, more interconnected nature. A swift departure from a previous linear model, spherical-holographic perception asks us to experience life as rich with creative opportunities. It’s about learning to feel the flow more, and to consolidate our three concepts of time (past, present, future) into one: now. What we experience as real is created by our attention, so we must use our attention with care.
One attention skill presented in Leap of Perception is “direct knowing.” Beyond intuition, direct knowing is about dialing into the source field, Universe, or Truth. Available to us at any time, direct knowing is a way of communicating with your deeper, subconscious mind. And, as with any hologram, the subconscious minds of all other beings in the Universe. Direct knowing is just one example of many essential attention skills Peirce outlines in her book.
According to Peirce, we use spheres of attention to create our realities with ourselves and others. Through this geometry, we glean a deeper understanding of the simultaneous nature of life and we grow deeper into an understanding of our relationship with the Universe. In short, we wake up to the idea of co-creation.
Time, according to Peirce, was built originally to map out memory and imagination and to place subjectivity onto a grid. In other words, it served a limited array of functions. In order to conduct our realities from our hearts, we must learn to let go of time as a structure and embrace it instead as a programming tool. That is, we must learn to perceive the world as if we were creating it.
From this vantage point, we become embedded in a matrix of our own essence, a kind of dream world built just for us. Gradually, we practice owning our lives for exactly what they are (and aren’t). This, for some, is the definition of mastery. In short, we must begin to encompass more of everything in our picture of reality, because this will help us to master the skillful use of attention.