I was speaking with someone recently who was bewailing the fact that people in general are never taught how to think. Some folks think, think, think but are just spinning their wheels, not getting anywhere. Others think themselves into a box, and are limited on all sides. Others go from one problem to another and never seem to get a break. We might say these are all victims of their own thinking.
Where does perception fit it? "Garbage in, garbage out" is a common description of what happens with computers. If the input is corrupt, no matter how good the program, the output will be bad. Could not this apply to our thinking as well?
In Science and Health, a foundational concept, repeated over and over, is that the physical senses are not to be trusted - in fact, they are the source of all that is wrong (sin, disease, and death)!! This is VERY radical! What is the alternative? Spiritual sense. We all have it, but generally we are trained to pooh-pooh it. Why? Because it goes against the norm - it requires independence of perception and thought.
Spiritual sense sees opportunity where the less inspired see limitation. Spiritual sense is motivated by love where the other is restricted with fear. Spiritual sense is not influenced by peer pressure, while the other is enslaved by the expectations of others. One might say that spiritual sense is seeing as God sees.
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"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness... No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Jesus)
"Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thought." (S&H, Mary Baker Eddy)