Truth

Our present article is on the topic of truth.

Defined: the state of being the case: fact; the body of real things, events, and facts: actuality; a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality; the property of being in accord with fact or reality.

Introduction: Professor Kailoken assigns his students the topic of defining truth which is due in the next class session. Wendell is a student in the class.

Wendell: [Thinking to himself.] Truth? What is truth? How can anyone define truth? People must have been discussing what truth is even before the time of Aristotle. Sure I can look up the definition in the dictionary but I am sure that Kailoken is looking for something different here. This sounds like a perfect topic to ask my mentors tonight. Of course I am expected to do my own work, but they can help me understand much more… okay, until tonight then.

[That evening in the 5^th Way community center.]

Catharsis: That seems to conclude our business portion of our meeting tonight. Let’s move onto any personal and spiritual matters that may be at hand. Let’s have some fun! Wendell since you seem to look a little perplexed why don’t we start with you?

Wendell: As you probably know, I am a student of Kailoken’s at the University. He assigned us the topic of truth. With Kailoken’s permission I would like to offer what I think it is and then see what anyone here can add to help enlighten me on the subject.

Kailoken: Although things are best experienced and figured out by each individual for his/her benefit, others can often lead to another understanding of the topic. Go ahead and give us what you feel truth is and the rest of us can add to it if we choose to.

Wendell: It is interesting that you said the word feel because I was not even looking at it from that angle. So, already you have opened my mind up to new possibilities on this topic. To me truth to most people means something that a scientist or some other authority figure says it is. So, a person who is seen as someone that is supposed to know more than the rest of us in some area is given wide latitude to give us his/her vision of what truth is in that area. For instance, if professor so-and-so says that the moon is made of cheese then the rest of us may ask what kind and get the crackers ready.

Catharsis: Moon cheese would make for some interesting hors d’oeuvres for our community meetings, no doubt about it. As we know from history, many of the so-called authority figures have been wrong about a lot of things. The Earth being flat was a biggie. Is there another way to discover what truth is? Everyone feel free to join in.

Waneta: The position of the sun rising and setting depends on one’s relationship to the sun. If I and another are at different locations on Earth, I may see the sun here and s/he may see the sun there from our different perspectives. Although it is the same sun we both experience a different aspect of it. That is like Truth – depending on one’s experience and understanding of it the aspect of truth can change.

Wendell: It seems then that truth is a rather large and expansive concept and one individual may never know all of it.

Zhi: Profound truth is always simple, yet the integral being does not call it either simple or profound. People create many obstacles to knowing the truth and hold fast to their own blindness and falsehoods. They will persuade others to follow them and will persecute unbelievers and even start wars against them.

Naruto: Ah, very good. I suppose I should say something profound here. Let me see… the word blindness leads me to say following koan:

Eyes open, you exist.

Eyes closed, you exist.

With no eyes, you exist.

Wendell: This is a very interesting conversation. I will have to ponder on what everyone is saying. So far what I get is that each person has to discover what truth is to him/her, perhaps even to know what it feels like. Others may be able to give us their perceived aspects of the larger Truth but we must always try to confirm and discover these things for ourselves.

Addison: When something is in accordance to one’s perceptions of reality, it is true for that person, at that moment in time. The main problem for humans has been in perceiving and defining reality.

Catharsis: That is an interesting thing about truth. Truth changes depending on the perceiver. It is like those ink blots used in the Rorschach test given by the psychoanalytical shrinks. Many people can look at the same exact ink blot and yet one person may see it as their parochial mother, another may see a wild and exciting woman, and another a flying hippo. [Laughter erupts.]

Addison: Another way of looking at this is that truth to a human being is what corresponds with what he thinks he knows. The one main problem with this is if what he “knows” is not factual, then it is not Truth. It may be his/her truth but it is not the Truth. And the interesting thing is, facts seem to be continually replaced with truer facts as man’s ability to perceive reality gets better – thanks in large part to modern scientific inquiry.

Catharsis: Yes, that is another interesting thing about truth, as the facts change so does the truth. It seems to me that a good question for Wendell to ponder is: is there a greater Truth that exists that humans may only gather bits and pieces of which may be perceived erroneously? This reminds me of the story about the three blind men who felt different parts of an elephant and came away describing it differently to whomever they spoke to about it – the leg was a pillar to one, the ear a large fan to another, and so forth.

Wendell: I think Kailoken used an important word, the word being feel. Is it not possible to feel this larger Truth instead of merely skimming the surface of it?

Zhi: Let everything be its own truth, for the truth of one individual is the truth of the entire universe. Let everything be united with the truth of its own being. The totality of truth presents itself to you every time you blink your eyes. It can dance on the tip of your eyelash. It stretches as far as the eye can see and fills as much as the mind can hold. It exists in every moment of time and every bit of space. Is there any instant which does not contain the truth of life? Is there any place which does not hold the truth of existence and non-existence? Take the example of the pine tree. Which inch of the living tree is not the truth? Which hour that the tree lives is not the truth?

Wendell: Wow, this is great stuff! There is so much to meditate on here. It just hit me… one needs to quiet oneself in order to be receptive to Truth.

Zhi: The one who wishes to hold the truth causes it to slip away from him. Because one departs from his own nature to search for something external, he overlooks the truth of his own being. To be is to be true. The muchness and suchness of truth is included in this very second. If you miss the truth of this moment, a thousand galloping horses cannot catch up with it.

Wendell: That’s it! As one’s state of being harmonizes with the Truth it just is.

Addison: An interesting conversation indeed. For now we can end the conversation with the following: Truth is what IS regardless of whether you perceive it or not, and regardless of whether you perceive it correctly or not, and regardless of whether you perceive it in its entirety or not. Until next time friends, Light and Love.

“Until another moment in time my friends.” “Namaste” “See you good people later.”

{Everyone departs until they meet up again.]