The truth will set you free

“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold” – Leo Tolstoy

“I wish to become a teacher of the Truth”

“Are you prepared to be ridiculed, ignored and starving till you are 45?”

“I am. But tell me: what will happen after I am 45?”

“You will have grown accustomed to it”

This short tale symbolises that while we desire an authentic connection to our real self, pursuing the Truth may not be the charmed existence we hope for.

Your Truth is the source of all wisdom – every person retains their own Truth while no two are the same. To seek the Truth means seeing past the illusory thoughts of what life should be. “We perceive the world as we are, not as it is,” said Anaïs Nin. To see past the mind’s self-constructed bias, we surrender thoughts which perpetuate this distortion.

The Truth is relative to what you observe and what you hope to see. No two people have the same experience, given subjective reality.

It was the late Dr David Hawkins, a renowned psychiatrist and spiritual teacher who wrote in Truth vs Falsehood: How to Tell the Difference: “The human mind, by virtue of its innate structure, is blind to its limitations and innocently gullible. Everyone is the victim of the ignorance and limitation of human ego”.

Living in the material world means we are unable to escape the vicissitudes of sweeping changes ushered through life. From the moment of conception we are indoctrinated with rules, beliefs and ideas not of our choosing. I mean that in the kindest possible way – we are at the mercy of those we trust to reason the world for us.

Yet many of these beliefs remain unchallenged throughout our life. We need only interact with adults who behave in a regressed, child-like state to notice how they perceive the world through an automated lens.

Still, these same people claim to know the Truth, “Everyone secretly believes that their view of the world is correct and any other is wrong. Thereby opinion becomes promoted to “ostensible” fact and pseudovalidity,” states Hawkins.

So what is Truth at its core?

To live the Truth means to live according to your authentic self. To think and reason the world without other people’s thoughts to dominate your mental landscape. Popular culture is lined with the herd mentality espoused through: mainstream music, pop culture, political influences and inauthentic leadership. These are ways in which our minds are subdued into a distorted illusion of what is real.

In his book, Your (Re) Defining Moments, author Dennis Merritt Jones states, “We have to enter into unknowing to discover the truth, because there is no room for unknowing in a mind that believes it already knows the truth.”

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” – Marcus Aurelius

I am reminded of the Zen teaching, “Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?” We must empty our minds of inaccurate distortions to discover the Truth – a busy mind cannot gain new information when it overflows with ideas.

How do we arrive at this state of emptiness?

In an earlier article I affirmed everything is relative to the perceiver. For example, you do not see the sun where it is now since it has moved. You see it where it was eight and a half minutes ago, given the Earth’s approximate distance from it. Subjective reality asserts other people’s perception differs to yours since no two people share the same experience.

Who is right? Who upholds the Truth?

To take a different view, British-born philosopher Alan Watts states, “To “know” reality you cannot stand outside it and define it; you must enter into it, be it and feel it.”

We must go beyond the self-created illusion if we wish to penetrate the Truth while letting go of thoughts that no longer serve us.

Speak your Truth, trust your Truth and live your Truth.

Be who you came here to be, irrespective of your religious denominations or cultural beliefs – live your Truth at the deepest level. Embody it, even if you take a lifetime to discover, it will have been worth it.

Refuse to be indoctrinated with someone else’s Truth – those same people are prone to regurgitate knowledge and have nothing new to offer the world. Such distortions will consume you until you honour your Truth by giving it life – yield to it. Whilst disheartening, the ego delivers a false impression of security as it consolidates its hold on you. The illusion keeps you from realising your authentic self.

“Truth and Reality are identical and eternally present merely waiting discovery,” affirms Dr Hawkins.

The Truth sets you free since it liberates you from a self-imposed prison disposed to minimise your potential. The wisdom of the soul is your real connection to your spiritual source – trust this connection to the Truth.

Confront the Truth with compelling certainty, an open mind and a sincere heart – then can you claim to have a command over it. Don’t allow the egoic voice to drown out your inner spirit. Reason and logic will bargain and banter to convince you the Truth is unattainable – don’t argue with it.

The Dutch philosopher Gerardus van der Leeuw reminds us, “The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced”.

Embody the Truth in your obligations, whether it be through your thoughts, actions or words. The world needs more original thinkers than naysayers who conform to popular opinion.

As James Blanchard Cisneros reminds us, “Once you awaken you will have no interest in judging those who sleep”.

Tell us, do you live your honest truth?