Very, very cool, BNLsMOM! I have not heard such thinking since I was a student in college. I do believe perception has an impact on the self and on the sellf/body of others, and that, in paranoia, we attract that which we believe and that it tends to dissipate when we cease to believe in it. Of course that is not quite what you are saying. I also was enthralled by MickG's response, from which you quote above, relating to the sensory gating theory, and how the perceptual filter breaks down in psychosis, so that we are better able to receive sensory input which is normally filtered out. A fascinating discussion. You are a bit ahead of me, but I would very much like to catch up. I have quite a complex book called Psychosis and Spirituality, with a different author contributing a chapter on the subject. It is intense and fascinating. Thank you for your mesmerizing post, and I hope that we will meet again. Isn't it a blessing to think outside our small problems to the grandeur of the universe? In partial answer to your question, I think that negative perceptions or observations/judgements of us may move along the death of the body/self, whereas positive thoughts have the opposite impact. In facination - billieJ