Babayada;
In a mechanical sense I think of perceptions as feedback to a direction I am going. Of course sitting still in quietness of mind doesn't give you much fresh perceptions but it does unload alot of garbage.
Alot of times my daughters ask me questions why I am doing something. A good one was on Feng Shui, I probably bought every book on Feng Shui and played with all these different systems and came up with something that worked for me. My youngest daughter asked why I did that. I answered her "For Good Luck" which she looked at me with this most incredulous look. No way, she said. But I notice that she always sits in my chair, I notice that the whole family sits in that area of the house and when we have company they all gravitate to that spot.
It's just an energy thing like electricity that you can't hold in your hand. I say it's magic because it is easier to explain to someone with a short attention span. I know I spent alot of hours reading, meditating, asking Masters for guidance, feeling how it felt, etc. It was like planting a garden except I was looking for a space that created that Dragon Breathe or cosmic breathe that is an enviroment that gives health, long life, wealth success prosperity,
happy family, etc.
The big secret to all of it was that it gives you all of these things so that you find Happiness, the next step is to Enjoy your Happiness. Enjoy a fantastic love life, etc.
If you break it down it's like making a magnetic field using the right ingredients.
But the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Maybe that is the magic part, at least for me.
As far as information, I learned it that a Sensei can only teach what he knows. You cannot try and teach something you don't know or you will look like an idiot, and that has even deeper implications.
If you have a problem with some of the information, maybe Paul has a way of looking at it that makes it work right, otherwise, why would he teach it?
For me Perceptions are external information coming in. My Beliefs are like Operating policy and I act this way or that based on what I receive through my perception. My Values are broad and general that keep me in the right sectors of life, sometimes I have to define them more and more. My Goals are targets that I go after to enhance my Value system which is pretty much my life.
When you are more than the sum of your parts then that is the magic of life. It is the Dragon Breathe. It is being in harmony with your environment and having the whole Universe at your back to help you.
also I rather enjoy calling something magic when it is something that I don't want to take the time to figure out. I also use it to get my daughters to figure out if Dad is telling them another sailor story or not.
"Did you know the Great Pumpkin will be arriving soon?, Now he is really magic."
They have to go find out that the Great Pumpkin is from Charlie Brown and I will hear all these groans and laughs when they discover the truth. Now I have to go find one they don't know.
Prana;
Yes I did read your long notes. Waves are throughout the Universe, we probably are a wave. Sound waves, brain waves, ocean waves, pulses, rythems, the quiet is only an opening for the next wave. The wave creates change that keeps us fresh, healthy and clean. I'm rather fond of those Waves from nice girls with a smile attacted.
Jeff
