The truth. You hear those words quite a bit. But is there really any such thing as truth? Perhaps truth is something that’s actually only true for you? I have spent much of my life seeking the truth and now, not only have I yet to find the truth, I am no longer sure the truth actually exists. Here is why.
Firstly, each of us has a sort of core of beliefs – things that we have been told are correct. This core is nurtured by our parents and then the educational system who teach us either what they accept as truth or that that they were taught as being truth and they have found nothing better to replace it with. Some things we are taught may be closer to the truth than others in that two plus two equals four seems like truth whereas something like margarine is good for you is an opinion masquerading as truth. And so it goes with pretty much everything you think you are and that you believe in. It is not so much truth as conditioning – an acceptable version or interpretation of reality.
When we get a bit older we start to think for ourselves. Or do we? In fact, we don’t really think for ourselves because very rarely do we challenge what we had already been taught. We simply sharpen the set of thinking and analysis tools we had been given by the programming we experienced growing up. Peer pressure and the choices we make about who we mix with, what we read, what we do and so on influence our development of who we are but for most people who don’t drift so far from the security and safety of the familiar, the challenges are hardly viewpoint changing. They are more likely small wrinkles of personal differences.
Everything that you believe you are and that you think you know is most probably a lie. You deceive yourself if you think it is truth because it can only be at best a version of someone’s truth. Probably not yours but more likely societies’ truth.
There may come a time when you start to really inquire and begin to meditate and focus on that core that you believe to be you. If you persist in this approach it is possible that you will conclude as I have done that you do not know who you really are and that much of your life has been about living to expectations rather than to your inner will and those expectations? They were almost always someone else’s expectations not yours. It is quite a shock when you understand this but there is still no truth. Rather there is the realization that everything outside of you is an illusion – it is maya. You begin to conclude that in order to see the outside world with a hint of the truth, you first need to find out who you really are.
Now here, I am going to digress a little bit so bear with me please.
Stepping back from this brink I can hear you saying but I know truth. I see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears. No, actually you really don’t. Do me a favor and go and google about how good we are at observation and you will be amazed at how poor a skill this is for most people. You see a crime or an accident? You see your version of it and someone else who saw the same thing at the same time may disagree with your version of events. Did the man really have black hair? Was he really athletic build? The details of what you observe are part actual observation and a lot of your brain filling in the gaps based on…. yes, what you believe and have been programmed with. So actually, you don’t see or hear the truth but just an imperfect interpretation of it – your interpretation.
We also have an amazing capacity to deny the truth. Our memory is selective too. Not only did I interpret what I saw and heard but, I amy even have selectively remembered to reinforce my interpretation. Just be honest with yourself for a moment – how many memories have you altered deliberately to suit your viewpoint?
So, you see, truth – absolute truth cannot actually exist or rather it cannot be grasped by us. If the truth stared us in the face we would probably miss it and interpret it somehow in alignment with our ego and our belief system.
This is how people can fundamentally disagree over things. This is how we are exploited too. The media, the politicians, the religious leaders – they exploit us and manipulate ‘truth’. Why do you read the Telegraph or the Daily Mirror? Most likely because you agree with how they interpret events. There is a shared view of the truth. But beware – these media outlets can exploit that and tell you which version to believe….
So, I have concluded that each person has a version of the truth. Truth is not absolute for many of us and I do believe that what we see is a reflection of how we want to see. In essence, we see what we want to see. If I believe Russia is to blame for the situation in the Ukraine I will and yet Russia Today’s version of the truth is still truth – its just someone else’s version of it.
This makes life really interesting. If there is no truth then what am I to believe? Well, what is amazing is that if you do start to study magic or mysticism or your true self, you start to pick away at things and like an onion, you find layer after layer of nonsense. You begin to understand that we are programmed and that our programming is continual and we do not question it at all. You begin to see the world differently but you accept that this view is not the truth but a different version of the truth as it is still viewed through the hue of the personality and the ego. The trick is to continually work at understanding yourself to minimize the tint that colors our observation.
At the same time, you must conclude that things that most people would not accept are not only feasible but probably can be made to be just by seeing the world in a different way – all it takes is rigorous practice. In other words, you begin to appreciate that magic is real and a lot more besides. We do in fact create our own reality. It is a two-way thing. The way we see ensures that we continually see what we expect to see, If we change the the lens then we see something else. Is that magic or is that perception and please what is the difference?
And this is where the fun really starts. As we do this we become increasingly aware that there is a part of us – each of us – that is eternal, ever present, all knowing and perfect in every way. Not only have we not known this before but if we did get a hint of it then we dismissed it as a stupidity. But if we start to embrace this idea then slowly we begin to understand that if we just stand still in quiet and listen to this, our true self, we adopt a god-like viewpoint. In essence we accept the will of God and rather than trying to bend and strain to our program, we accept this…. love – then and only then will we finally see truth. The truth is you.
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