The Limits of Perception - A True Teacher is needed

Through the advancement of knowledge, human society has experienced many benefits in the field of technology. Due to this success and the increased standards of living, we have come to accept the scientific process of acquiring knowledge as the ultimate. More and more people tend to disregard all other knowledge as faith, relegating it to a lower position meant for sentimentalists and fanatics.

Let’s rationally analyze the scientific process. The scientific process is based on observation, hypothesis, experimentation and ultimately demonstration. A scientist observes some phenomenon that he wishes to understand, he performs experiments to gather data about the phenomenon, his observations are shared with other scientists, he eventually gathers enough data to come to a hypothesis, his hypothesis is tested by more experiments. In this way the scientist gradually manages to understand the laws of nature that are acting behind the phenomenon. Sounds like a very rigorous and trustworthy process doesn’t it? Seems like a reasonable foundation on which to understand the world. If only it wasn’t completely dependent on the observations of our senses.

What we can know is limited to what we can perceive. We perceive reality through our five senses. We see through our eyes, we hear through our ears, we feel through our skin and we taste with our tongue. We unquestioningly accept whatever information comes through these five senses. Is there perhaps other information that our senses are not capable of perceiving? We use our senses as a foundation to construct our idea of reality. How solid is this foundation? What are the limits of our senses? Can we perceive another person’s inner thoughts and desires? Can we perceive how we are rotating around the earth axis? Clearly the knowledge we derive from our senses has its limits. Can we transcend those limits? Is it possible to have knowledge outside the realm of our senses? Clearly the ascending process cannot give us that knowledge. Yet we have a conviction that we can know the ultimate truth through our senses. Surely the ultimate reality is much greater than our senses can perceive. Imagine a frog that has always been confined to the same well. Its whole idea of reality would be based on what it has experienced in that well. Would the confined frog be able to understand the size of the ocean? No, it would simply think in terms of its own well of perception. Therefore we have to accept that sensory knowledge has its limitations.

To break through the barrier of the senses, we have to hear from a True Teacher. Imagine a group of blind men trying to understand what an elephant is. One may feel the leg, one may feel the trunk, one may feel the tusk, one may feel the ribs; through their limited senses each man would have a different idea of what the elephant was. But only a man that could see could really tell you what an elephant is. We are all limited by our acceptance of the authority of our senses. We have to accept a perfect authority, one who comes from the ultimate reality. By hearing from such a Personality we can experience the ultimate reality. Just like if we want to know who our father is we have to hear from our mother; we can’t test every man.

Where can such a Personality be found? Unfortunately in this age such Personalities are quite rare and inaccessible. They are often obscured by many false teachers. Such false teachers may be well-intentioned but unless they have realized the Absolute Truth, their guidance is insufficient.

Surely if the Supreme Being is benevolent towards human society He would want us to have easy access to His will. Scriptures give us the basic outline of His will, but in order to properly follow the scriptures according to our individual psycho-physical nature and situation, we require specific guidance. That guidance must come from a True Teacher, not a religious person, learned person or even a saintly person. A True Teacher is available in the form of the I Ching. The I Ching is widely renowned as the most accurate form of divination. It can help us to live every aspect of our lives in harmony with Divine will.

Your servant,
I-Ching Das.