- The Big Question about our place in the cosmos has puzzled our species for centuries. But individuals have gotten answers, and you can too.
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| “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” |
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
– John, 18:37, 38
In order to convey what I feel I have to share about spirituality, I need to lay down some foundation stones, the “givens” I hold to be true about our place in the Universe and the meaning of our existence … and all that.
And so, “Reality 101.”
The fourth of my foundation stones, is Truth.
In Franco Zeffirelli’s powerful and heartbreaking Jesus of Nazareth, the portrayal of the scene above from John 18 depicts Rod Steiger’s Pontius Pilate as man weary of his duties in administrating the difficult Hebrew population. In a revealing moment, he shows both a mind that has been captured by the idea of a higher Truth, and a frustrated contempt in being unable to find it.
Yes. What is “Truth”?
To quote Ayn Rand: A = A.
“A = A”
The way I’ve been using the term “Truth” elsewhere on the site, what I’ve meant is an intuitive channel to Reality. As in Plato’s (Socrate’s) allegory of the cave, the prisoners in the cave — nearly all of us — interpret Reality by the shapes of the shadows cast upon the wall in front of them, not realizing there is not only a way out of the cave, but that they are in a cave, and on top of this are prisoners.
Unlike the prisoner of the allegory that frees himself and ascends into the light of Reality, yours truly is still bound, but has loosened his bonds enough to turn and recognize that here is a Light that creates these shadows in the first place.
So … what is Reality?
That which is is that which is.
A circular argument, yes, but language can only take us so far.
Many years ago, I had (of all people) a Scientologist point out to me that I was not my thoughts. “What is it that sees that you are thinking?” he asked, and this was a first step in recognizing there were different ways to understand existence than trying to interpret it in some kind of logical argument or mathematical equation. (He them promptly told me he would tell me nothing else unless I paid the organization $25.00 for some kind of membership or initiation fee. It’s probably a lot more now.)
(So much for Scientology.)
This fundamental ability of any conscious being to perceive Reality — that which is real — shows our connection to it. (Richard Bach, in Illusions, went so far as to call it “The IS.”) We see this explained in this in Hinduism: the divine spark in all of us, Atman, leads to the all-encompassing God consciousness, Brahman, as a river leads to the ocean.
In my case, it’s probably a little tiny creek instead of a river, but I am confident it will eventually lead me to the Ocean of That Which Is. I’ve gotten a little toehold on Realty, or, if you will, I’ve loosened enough of my bonds that I can see behind me to know there’s something there.
My working definition of “Truth,” is how the mind perceives Reality. (I feel “Love” is how the heart experiences Reality, but that’s another article entirely.)
I am growing closer to Reality, and I’m confident I have over the decades since I had my first glimpse of it. Based on my experience alone, I honestly don’t know if a complete experience of Reality is even possible in this plane of existence. I find myself doubting that I could perceive It in its overwhelming totality … I suspect the experience would kill me out of sheer bliss.
So What is “A”?
I think it is fair to say that Reality something that can’t really be imagined, because I am conveying this through language, which, like any thought, is at best a symbolic representation of something else.
Though it can, to some degree, be experienced.
What I call Reality I believe is synonymous to what Buddhists call the “Void,” what the Tao Te Ching calls “the Tao,” what Jesus called God.
This has become a cliche in New Age circles, and there is room for discussion, but I believe this is the true meaning of the Old Testament name for God, Yahweh (strictly, the Tetragrammaton, YHWH) — I AM THAT I AM.
This to me speaks of our connection to Reality. We are actually part of Reality. As Alan Watts suggested, we are the eyes of God looking at ourselves.
I mean, we are that we are, aren’t we?
(Yeah, yeah, yeah — blasphemy. Pfeh.)
Reality is unitary, eternal, infinite. Unfortunately, this is difficult to describe to those who don’t sense there is more going on than the temporal experience of everyday life, but at least we can use this for a comparison.
Life is dualistic in just about every aspect – up and down, back and front, here and there, us and them. In Truth, that is, in Reality, there is no division. It’s almost as if you can take the positive or beneficial side of any polar opposite, ignore the negative side, and we’re looking at an aspect of this ultimate Reality. Though I’m not sure this is valid way of looking at it, because it seems to me that Reality embraces all without division.
What we commonly use the word Reality for really isn’t Reality at all. Our physical existence is subject to entropy. Everything dies, or at very least changes. Yet, just the idea of something that is absolute or eternal in this plane of existence implies death, or something static, arrested, or unyielding.
Clearly, Reality is larger than our everyday experience.
(And thank God, too. I was worried there for a while.)
How Do I Get Here?
To reuse another overworked cliche, this from the movie Buckaroo Bonzai: “No matter where you go, there you are.” So really what we’re looking for is a deeper experience of here.
Yes, fine. But how?
From my experience, Truth is free to anyone who wants it. You just have to want it enough.
As I noted here, when the time comes when you can ask yourself: Why am I here? What is the meaning of my existence? Why do I feel incomplete? Is there something more? … in other words, the deepest soul-searching questions anyone can ask, and truly ask them as if it was more important than anything else in your life, then your answers will start to come.
A hint of your own infinitude will open itself up to you, and begin to lead you to the Greater Infinite.
Simple, yes. An entitlement …? Actually, yes. But not an easy one, and not something someone else can do for you.
You’re on your own, but if you want, I’ll help point you.
(And watch the cave wall there. It’s sharp in places.)
© 2009, by Daniel Brenton. All Rights Reserved.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Difficult to express in words something so simple as Truth. I don’t think I saw anywhere on the Internet so far a mention of Plato’s allegory, which for me is the closest interpretation of reality. They used the word “shadows” but I prefer holograms
Thanks for another 101 Reality, is getting better and better.
Yeah! Tao, Truth, and Buckaroo Bonzai, three of my favorite things.