The psychic grid: How we create the world we know (A Quest book)

This is not a book about psychic phenomena. It is a work of philosophy about how our perceptions are conditioned by the world view of the culture we are raised in. Each human being carries a "lens" through which he perceives everything that happens around and within himself, and with which he filters out bits of information which do not jive with the lens he carries. Our lenses are a product of family, school, workplace, regional, religious, and national influences--indeed there are many layers to each person's lens, and the layers begin to be formed when we are infants and continue to be added on throughout our formative years. The consensus reality of one's community therefore bestows upon each individual a field of knowledge, and this field determines what new knowledge we pick up. It is this field which Bruteau refers to as the "psychic grid." There are a multitude of psychic grids. They are simply different belief niches which people can inhabit. You might think of them as subcultures. No one psychic grid is "right," according to Bruteau. What makes a psychic grid "right" is if it works for a group of people, if it allows them to find meaning. If it does not, it will be replaced.Since The Psychic Grid addresses the question of how we can know what is real, it is a work of epistemology. However, it goes beyond rational epistemology, since the author presupposes a spiritual realm, or higher reality, which can only be approached intuitively. This higher reality stands behind, or you could say beyond, beneath, or above, the material world in which most of us spend our thinking lives. But just like the material world around us, we cannot perceive it as it really is, but only through one or another lens. According to Bruteau, you can never jump outside of your lens, and perceive what is REALLY there. That would bring in an overwhelming amount of information, which humans in their current stage of development cannot process ("you cannot look upon the face of God and live"). However, you can change your lens. For Bruteau, conversion experiences are about entering into another psychic grid and replacing your prior lens with a new one. It may be a psychic grid which is shared by fewer people than that of the mainstream reality, but that does not detract from its value in any way if it allows you a wider and more creative vision.Furthermore, there have been (and probably are now) people who have entered into a psychic grid not shared by any other human. Think of Jesus, Mohammed, or Buddha. They shared consciousness with something outside of the human realm, and brought back a way of seeing which they shared with others, thus renovating the psychic grids of their own cultures.Beatrice Bruteau is a thinking Catholic, and an astute scholar. She has studied mathematics as well as Western and Eastern philosophy, including Vedanta. Although she is an intuitive and something of a visionary, she lays out her arguments with earnest precision. Conclusions foll