The Truth: Next Exit
Truth is a bit of a scary concept to me, and an even more disturbing quantity when wielded by the minds of any but the truly enlightened. Whenever I find myself speaking capitol “T” truths, it’s time to get off at the next exit, or at least find a rest stop.
I recognize certain Truths … we live, we die, we eat, we love, we speak in fancy wordy ways … but these are so fundamentally self-evident as to be the first steps of a spiritual path to self-awareness … the stillness begins with simply observing these most simple of truths — in ourselves at first, then in others.
My ego is never satisfied, however, with such observations. It wishes to know why such states of being and action exist. While it’s worthwhile to pursue such understanding, applying the label of Truth to the insights discovered on this path is fraught with dangers. Buddha might say such Truths are the most debilitating kinds of attachments. The why of all existence is beyond my ken, and so I enter treacherous territory when I begin to believe I have grasped a fundamental Truth about why I am here, why I do what I do, what is the best action in any general or specific set of circumstances. I stand still and become resolute under the conviction of Truth. I judge others through the filter of such Truths. The Truth imprisons me. It’s time to get off the Truthway.
I try to pursue a way of being that observes and speaks truly. The key is honesty, to be true to myself, to my observations, to acknowledge my own limited insight and speak truly within those limitations. I believe I am enlightened enough to grasp the simplest truths, but I cannot even imagine the insight into Truth of the truly enlightened.
There is one Truth, one universal why of existence, which I believe is within my grasp, within anyone’s grasp. Love is the simplest of truths about why we do what we do, and the truest arbiter of what we should do under any set of circumstances. Love is, often, and paradoxically, the most difficult Truth for me to hold to. Anger, greed, covetousness, pain, fear… the most human of obstacles to Love. The further I slip from loving kindness, the further I slip from being true to myself and others, the more selfish and self-destructive my behaviour becomes.
So I try to ignore the Truth exits and hold simply to a path that is an expression of Love.
