Today I’d like to share with you a well-documented phenomenon called The Pygmalion Effect.
The name is derived from the mythical Greek character, Pygmalion, who had carved such a beautiful statue that he fell in love with it...and brought her to life.
In other words, Pygmalion’s perception of this seemingly inanimate rock as a beautiful living woman changed its very nature into a beautiful living woman.
The effect was popularized by a study that showed that teachers’ perceptions of their students impacted their students’ innate IQ level. When the teacher perceived a particular student as an “intellectual bloomer” (even if this held no measurable validity), that student became an intellectual bloomer.
The Pygmalion Effect then can be seen as a self-fulfilling prophecy…
How we choose to perceive the people in our life actually brings those perceptions into reality.
Quantum mechanics shows us that the infinitesimally small scale of our world operates under a fuzzy notion of observation; the act of observation actually changes what is being observed. And while physicists continue to debate about what this means and why it is so, Pygmalion brings it to our own scale and shows us:
Our perception is actively collaborating with our world. How we choose to perceive things is not simply a passive analysis of the past…
It’s actually an active integration of the present. And upon dis-covering the Truth about our innate power, all of our world turns into Heaven.
We know that perceiving children as intellectually gifted has the power to make them so. Why then would we see any child as anything less than intellectually gifted?
We know that perceiving our neighbors as morally perfect has the power to make them so. Why then would we see any neighbor as anything less than morally perfect?
We know that perceiving our self as fully self-realized has the power to make it so. Why then would we see our self at any moment as anything less than fully self-realized?
And so my challenge and partnership with you, is to see yourself and all our neighbors as the perfect and fully-realized beings that we all can be.
This is neither a fantasy nor a wish; it is an acknowledgment of what is already so. When we see the Divine presence within each of us, we are playing an active part with its realization.
Assuming the best out of everybody leads to inevitable disappointment. But seeing the best in everybody leads to its inevitable fulfillment.
The result is Heaven right here on earth. And a nice symptom is an accompanying unshakable peace.
See perfection everywhere, and watch it grow.
In Oneness,
Steve
Steve Farrell
Worldwide Executive Director
Humanity’s Team
