But, and this is a vital distinction, perception is an act of the mind. It is initiated from within. It permits you to discriminate among sensations in the sense that you may dwell upon some and ignore others. It enables you to definitely select, if you will, the elements that shall make up the content of your consciousness.
Perception as an independent mental process thus enables you to predetermine what elements of passing sensory experience may be made the basis of your
conscious judgments and of your feelings and emotions.
How to Definitely Selects its Elements
Bear this in mind when you think of your environment and its supposed influence upon your life. Remember that your environment is no hard-and-fast thing, an aggregate of physical realities. Your environment, so far as it affects your judgment and your conduct, is made up, not of physical realities, but of mental pictures.
Your environment is within you. Get this conclusion clearly in your mind.
Hold fast to the point of view that, Environment, the environment that influences your conduct and your life, is not a chance massing of outward circumstances, but is the product of your own mind.
An Infallible Recipe for Self-Possession
Think what this means to you. It means that by deliberately selecting for attention only those sense-impressions, those elements of consciousness, that can serve your purpose, you can free yourself from all distractions and make peaceful progress in the midst of turmoil.