Perception . . . like a filter . . .

“Where one is at” . . . Knowledge, personality, maturity level, etc.

More to it as I evolved . . . one can move more into understanding and relating to the situation one is involved in. Enhanced direction

“The union with Tao also relates to the mental awakening that occurs when you have successfully practiced the alchemy. The essential idea is that before birth you have a pristine, untarnished state of enlightened consciousness without a false idea of self or other. After birth, you learn to perceive in terms of the language and norms imposed by your culture. This socialization process obscures the original, innate purity of perception. By relaxing the mind into its natural state, the Dragon Gate practitioner regains his original mind.”

Secrets of Dragon Gate: Ancient Taoist Practices for Health, Wealth, and the Art of Sexual Yoga / Steven Liu and Jonathan Blank. (Page 28).

I really needed to move along in my own trip. I was doing well; then there were some outside influences. Had to work on that as well. Got those various perspectives worked in now too:

Representations of the world, internalizations. Ideas. Then comes the more encompassing symbols of the greater worlds, consciousness. Then, full fledged experiences. For that’s how we truly are . . . “A being entwined within an interactive field of meaning and knowledge.” This only goes to say, there is a bit of a literal element involved in experiences here.

Moving out of the static, separate, mirror image of the world, despite the externalization factors, into our intrinsic nature, active, interconnected, with intent being able to touch upon the myriad elements of the universe. To the more real, alive world, and interacting with greater aspects of meaning and knowledge. There’s that intrinsic connection with the universe; and one can also act within that greater reality. Our enhanced Self.

Psychoanalytically, we may start with those “representations of reality,” ” internalizations.” I saw this with John Lilly’s works; but I didn’t realize it was from his grounding in analysis. What you are doing is the “externalizations.” Ah, colloquial psychoanalysis! Turning it into a behavior manipulation! Of course, I came along and moved it along to something else. Got intent working within the systems per se. “A being entwined within an interactive field of meaning and knowledge.” That’s what saved me, orientated me properly, taking me beyond all this loose end stuff.

Your orientation may be more along the lines of this, even if you couldn’t explain it this way:

“The Western assumption that dreams are softer (more subjective, false, private, transient, and illusory) than the hard facts of waking life (which we think of as objective, true, public, permanent, and real) is an assumption that is not shared by Indian texts devoted to the meaning of dreams.”
Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty. “Dreams, illusion, and other realities.” 1984, p. 14. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

It looks like I found the way to explain it though, for you, with my rules of thumb, intent and figure/ground. It all tightens up here, becomes more solid, real. One is in connection/interconnection. A higher level of consciousness, apprehension.
Awake in another way. This is psychology/philosophy: but it could even become more esoteric, as far as experiences go. Its easy to see how its related to form, information . . . art and knowledge are taken to newer levels: but there may be structure as well. Worlds. Science needed.

There came a point when I realized I needed to be less involved in this internalization/externalization dialectic. Some people were really “playing the game” here. Their interpretations tended to be generic, colloquial . . . missing the point of one’s  life’s true orientations. I wasn’t sure where this would take me; but eventually, other doors began to open. When one could feel, perceive, understand; that’s a big difference! That’s how our intrinsic actions, intent, moves.

A few days ago, for instance, I was wondering about these issues, and considering what courses of action I should take. I thought I should just center myself within intent, for I always could do that, and not worry about the issues. As I did, I had a unique inner experience of myself walking, with my cushion, (quaternity), held in my two hands before me. My attitude here, the feeling, was so considerate, centered, I more or less thought it was another me, something I could be. There are other aspects of self. Who is me? Structures?