Dreaming or awake, we perceive only events that have meaning to

“Dreaming or awake, we perceive only events that have meaning to us.” — Thus spoke Jane Roberts, a writer and mystic whose words sought to bridge the visible and the invisible, the waking and the dreaming. In this profound reflection, Roberts unveils one of the deepest mysteries of human consciousness: that perception is not passive but creative. We do not see the world as it is — we see it as it means something to us. Every sight, sound, and memory is filtered through the lens of our own significance. The world is vast, but the mind chooses what to notice, and in doing so, shapes its own reality.

In the wisdom of the ancients, this truth was already known. The philosophers of Greece, India, and the East all taught that the observer creates the world he sees. Roberts’s insight echoes this timeless principle: whether dreaming or awake, our minds select from the infinite a pattern that resonates with our inner story. The beggar and the king may walk through the same street, but they perceive different worlds. The beggar sees hunger and survival; the king sees order and loyalty. The reality before them is the same, yet their perception is divided by meaning. For man does not live in the world — he lives in his interpretation of it.

Roberts’s teaching flows from her explorations into dream consciousness, through the “Seth Material” — a series of writings that sought to unveil the spiritual laws behind perception and existence. She proposed that the same creative mind that shapes our waking reality also creates the dream. Both worlds, she said, are governed not by random chance but by significance — by the patterns of thought and emotion that guide our attention. Thus, what we call “reality” is simply the waking dream that our beliefs sustain. To see is to assign meaning; to live is to weave meaning from the endless sea of events around us.

Consider the tale of Helen Keller, blind and deaf from infancy, yet one of the most awakened spirits of her time. To most, her world would seem empty — no color, no sound. Yet when her teacher, Anne Sullivan, taught her the word water through touch, her perception of reality transformed. From that moment, the universe was reborn in her consciousness. The world had always been there, but now it meant something. This was the revelation Jane Roberts describes: that meaning gives shape to perception, and perception gives birth to reality.

This truth carries both beauty and warning. For if we perceive only what has meaning to us, then a heart clouded by anger will find reasons for anger, and a mind steeped in fear will see only danger. The universe mirrors the soul. The same storm that terrifies one man may inspire another. Thus, wisdom begins when we learn to shape the