Perception Errors

From the Middle Way Arcana, the Moon; from the Vertical Oracle, Intoxicated:

Our perceptions carry with them all the errors of our subjectivity.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Buddhist psychology describes how our awareness is shaped and directed by an ocean of unconscious imprints. This storehouse is a repository of all our emotional and cognitive impressions and affects our every thought, word and action. Most of the time, we operate without being aware of how its leash pulls us one way or another. Our habitual patterns, both mental and emotional ruts, have their roots here. Yet if we pause before a knee-jerk response, we can question whether we're "under the influence." Then we can more carefully choose our action or attitude without perpetuating an unskillful pattern. The Moon is also associated with moodiness (often due to our storehouse being triggered), which might cause us to take the Intoxicated path. While being 'blissed out' might give us a brief reprieve, trying to stay in this state doesn't help us change or adapt. It simply is just another of the ego's methods to hide from rather than deal with reality. As Chogyam Trungpa stated, "Ego is able to convert anything to its own use, even spirituality."