This is probably one of the most oft-quoted sayings that has descended to us from the ancient writings usually is attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John. It always strikes to the heart of the matter. For example, right now we can look into our personal experience and acknowledge a moment when someone was trying to get through to us and we weren’t willing to listen. Often times when we reflect on our life, memories such as these can spring up in an instant and with the recognition of seeing the error of our ways and we acknowledge that our only choice is to change our modus operandi. To continue going down that same path again and again and again; beating your head up against that same brick wall is no longer an option. The process of self-correction is ongoing; been there, done that, don’t need to do it again.
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Knowing the truth sets us free. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it makes us angry, sometimes it leaves us feeling stark naked as if our heart has been ripped open awakening us to the fact that nobody gives much a damn about our own personal difficulties as they are focused on their own. The question is: Have we developed the capacity for brutal self-honesty? Our compass point is always the truth. Socrates declared: “to thine own self be true.” Are we willing to exam a position that we have assumed for years to be true, when in fact we just might be in error?
The painful lesson of stubbornness is that it always brings us back to square one when we acknowledge, yet again, that we have explored another fruitless path and have not reaped the blessing which we had hoped for. Mick Jagger, somebody who has had it all said it all when even he had to acknowledge that " that you can't always get what you want, but if try sometimes… you just might find, you get what you need." So I tip my hat to the famous rock star for uttering forth those words that speak the truth directly into the collective psyche of the entire world
Yet still, we are much more interested in a deeper philosophical, if not exhaustive conversation concerning the nature of truth because we can not argue with it. The truth stops people dead in their tracks because the endless streams of lies and justifications that drown out the peace in our mind are silenced; then the endless wars throughout the centuries which have drenched the planet in blood can come to a stop and we can so align ourselves to the rectification of many grave and serious problems that are confronting our home.
When Jesus was being questioned by Pilate before being delivered unto the Roman soldiers to be crucified, the accused told him that “he [had come] into the world that [he] should bear witness to the truth." Pilate was speechless with exasperation and could only reply: “What is truth?” The interaction taking place leaves us hanging, and when we would expect a philosophical conversation to transpire the chief magistrate of Judea had the business of the day to concern himself with; end of conversation.
What we want and need is a clearer and more precise understanding concerning the nature of truth, because we are commiting the higher mind within us to witness its transparent nature; it is like a multi-faceted brilliantly cut diamond, because the more we examine the various aspects of truth, the more it refracts light in ways that penetrate deeper into our heart with its beauty.
So I wonder where we can start our search and naturally, the Scripture comes to mind because it has so often been put up on the pedestal to be the standard by which we should measure our life. 30 years of my life was about propagating it as the must book to read and this exposition is about bringing to light why I do not necessarily believe that to be the case anymore.
But still, I have to take a step back and take a look at the book and ask myself what are the conversations concerning it that need to be brought to the table and completed concerning its origins, personages, and doctrines which have molded and shaped the minds of western civilization. Only then can we come have a greater appreciation for the minds that not only created the Bible, but also the importance of recognizing it as an extremely important artifact of history.
So another the foundational verses upon which the premises of this book are established is John 16.13: "Howbeit when [it] the Spirit of truth, is come, [it] will guide you into all truth ..." Please note that I have interjected “it”, replacing “he” in the KJV text because it is incongruent with how English speakers experience truth which is as a neuter abstract noun. In Spanish, however, the verbs are either masculine or feminine and in this case la verdad is feminine. Perhaps this might explain why so many of the Catholic traditions which permeates Latin culture are grounded in the worship of Mary. Is there a feminine aspect to the truth which we are missing?
The purpose of Spirit is to guide us into all truth and that is without argument. Its functionality is light in the darkness to show us the way out of the matrix of which we have now found ourselves completely intangled. We live in a world where we are awakening to the fact that practically everything we have been told about where we live — planet earth — is a complete lie.
If you are reading this, then you most likely have already conditioned yourself to question everything: all information received through all forms of printed and electronic media; all manners of cultural indoctrination through religious and educational institutions; and not to be excluded, and all information recieved through those individuals who have chosen to be channels through which spiritual entities have communicated proclaiming to be messengers of the truth. Question everything. We want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I think there is a problem with people worshipping a book, rather than the ideas that the book contains. Sure, the Bible has a LOT of good, insightful philosophy, but it also has a lot of more questionable stuff. When someone worships a book, they either don't see the objectionable stuff, or they use it to justify bad things. This is where you get the 'the Bible endorses slavery, so slavery is OK' type of arguments. People need to understand that it is a book, written by humans hundreds of years after most of the stories in there. This isn't incompatible with believing in it as scripture: God may be the message, but the messenger may be fallible. The messenger saw a 'truth' and wrote it down. The messenger isn't perfect, so we probably shouldn't expect the message to be. Worship does not need to be slavishly blind.
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Thanks for your response. Your spot on.
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Hi, Philip, this was worthy of a very considered response so I've turned it into a post.
Let me know what you think:)
https://steemit.com/religion/@andrewmarkmusic/kristos-or-messiah
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Ok so I have now read and reread the article a few times.
You know I have been thinking about these things and am indeed now writing an article that will touch on the importance of replacing dogma with personal interpretation in order to stop religious violence.
But I want to touch on your point about truth being a diamond. A comment on @andrewmarkmusic's article of response made me come back to the diamond, it said -
It certainly can seem like that while reading so many books! But we can never, through the multiplicity nor the duplicity of words, lose sight of the fact that there is only one reality, only one hard and fast truth that, like a diamond, sits firmly in the center of all our analysis and perceptions and perspectives.
I look forward to continuing the conversation!
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Here a friend of mine just wrote an article that touches on some surprisingly similar themes, but is about buddhism. Here she talks not abut a book, but about statues.
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