
The Illusion of Truth
5-15-1998
By Dale G. Cox
Just what
is the Truth? Truth, despite its definition, is a very transient thing.
To a small child, the truth is what mommy and daddy say it is, subject
to change as this child grows older, and is able to accept more of the
"truth". To a Lawyer in a courtroom, the truth is usually the demise of
the defendant, or his/her salvation. Demise or Salvation! To the
average
American, truth is what's handed down by the established authorities on
how we should live. Or should I say, the establishments established
authorities
on the topics they want to have founded as the truth. Poor people are
bad,
lazy, rich people are good, productive, politicians steal from us, but
its OK, etc. The average new-ager wants to believe the truth is
something
they must seek forever and never find. Melodramatic. The truth can be
pretty
easy to find. In a very real sense the truth is something we seek to
avoid
at all possible costs. The truth of ourselves, that is.
So, what
are the truths you believe in? If you exist in a cave in the middle of
nowhere alone, its quite possible you are the author of what you call
truth.
And since it would be hard for anyone else to argue those points with
you,
we'll leave you alone, for now. If you exist in today's "modern"
society,
chances are your truths have been purchased by the highest bidder, and
then pounded into you, and lovingly re-enforced by those around you.
Heaven
forbid you should think for yourself, that's rebellious. Ooh, what a
notion,
"thinking for yourself." The fact that we must sometimes learn to
"think"
for ourselves, could give you some indication as to the intensity with
which we are taught not to. People who think for themselves are labeled
alternative and weird. Why should it be "alternative and weird" to
think
for yourself. Unless, of course, you become powerfully wealthy,
entering
proudly into the halls of the corporate elite. Then you are much sought
after for your insight and advice. Your individuality is celebrated,
and
established as the truth to aspire towards. Yet again another
conflicting
version of truth.
Thus, it
is the use of the truth as an illusion, that has become the downfall of
our society. It is used to sell us products, that may or may not be
good
for us. To sell us on politicians to lead us, who may or may not lead
us
well. We are sold religion and even spirituality. Our ideals are
presented
to us in a form that calls us successful for excepting the status quo.
We have become such an informed society, but the information is created
by someone else. Even the notion of what is true is sold to us by
people
established to convince us of a truth. Professional people. It's their
job. You could call them professional liars, how do you find truth in
that?
So, just what can we rely on as the truth. Well, everything I'm telling
you right now is the truth. What, you don't believe me! You say you
don't
know me from Adam. How then can you believe someone else you've never
known?
Well, you can always trust that in a capitalistic society, truth will
be
founded on profitability. And why not? In a religious setting, our god
will always be the one true god. In relationships your perspective will
always be the truth, to your knowledge. In involvement's with the IRS,
their truth will eventually prevail. In the nature of conspiracies, the
truth will be both hidden and revealed to us. You must decide which is
which. In the new age movement, the truth will be just beyond the wall
you can't figure out how to get through. And once you do there'll be
another
wall. In legal matters, the truth, has been clearly defined, even if
you
weren't aware of it. In history, the truth is always defined by the
victor.
Convenient. And in the area of your soul, your ego will never want to
know
the truth, for the sake of its own survival. So, you may be wondering
where
does that leave us.
Wondering if
there are even a set of truths for us to live by. Well, of course there
are. And I'm going to tell you about them (wink). They reside in your
heart.
Your eyes and ears will betray you, they are after all, manipulatable.
That is a truth. But your heart will never lie to you. When it is
happy,
you know. When it is sad, you know. Your heart talks to you quite
often,
but you don't always listen, and you know this. Sometimes it seems to
want
to go in a direction you don't think is a good one. Well, this is
called
choosing your lessons. You can choose not to go in a certain direction,
and to have that lesson come to you in a different way. That is a truth
of free will. Your heart steers you through the lessons your soul needs
to grow. The question then becomes, why don't we trust the truth of our
hearts, our intuition? Because we have been taught not to. We have been
taught to believe in the truth of others. Which brings us back to the
benefit
of learning to think for yourself. You can believe in yourself. That is
a major universal truth. You are the only entity able to manipulate
your
experience on planet earth. The biggest truth of all. Think of
something
you want, or someone, then when it comes to you, ask yourself why you
don't
think you can have that thing, why you don't believe it could actually
be that easy. In the context of that question you will find the truth
of
your only handicap in life. Doubt and low self esteem. See truth isn't
so hard to figure out, its just hard to deal with. The practice of
trusting
your intuition is basically that, it must become a consistent practice.
One little trust at a time. Life is a grand experiment, don't be afraid
to indulge it. Sometimes your eyes will not trust the choices of the
heart,
but eyes can be deceived.
Your heart
is the compass to your path of truth. Truth will be different for all
of
us, perceptually. Because on the surface we're all different. But, at a
deeper level we are all one in the same. We're all doing the same
thing,
just in different ways. Two more universal truths you can believe in.
Life
is a classroom, the world like one big schoolyard. In a school this big
there must be many teachers. We are those teachers, teaching each
other,
learning from each other. Your heart was designed to guide you along a
path to your greatest expectations of joy and enlightenment. If we can
all find the courage to follow our hearts, one day we will all achieve
a universal truth the likes of which we have never imagined. To that
end,
I believe you have the courage to address this challenge. See ya there!
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