Jean Hardy examines the ways in which we perceive the world, acknowledging that perception is in the mind .
Is our experience limited to that available through the five senses? Perhaps these senses present a limited picture . “Reality” may be many layered.
In the West most see the material world as the only real world, with spiritual understanding often dismissed as fantasy . We must open the “Third Eye” of the Spirit to perceive the reality of things. In universalism this spiritual sensibility is available to all humanity.
The writer thus examines different notions of basic reality and the ways in which they have developed historically, particularly in the 17th century. Perhaps , says the writer ,ancient insights were lost in these recent centuries , and our culture became fragmented with the “inner” and “outer” worlds becoming separate.
Balance or harmony is needed between inner and outer perceptions , seeing everything as interlinked .