Gravity pulls everything closer to itself
what we build up it pulls down.
Feelings of euphoria
can trip on the sidewalk and fall.
We leave footprints in the snow
Christ looked to heaven and was crucified.
Full of holes
the ship Truth sinks to the ocean floor.
What purity of being must try to resurrect its bouyant possibility
a vessel which can float despite the weight it carries
sea worthy and worthy to be seen.
When we cease to fly we are easy prey
truth lifts us up.
The curse of lies screams its defense
far and wide promoting.
Truth does not compete with made up rules
it is a vessel which floats
inside the mysterious chambers of the heart.
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March 2, 2025
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February 18, 2025
Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.
-Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers KaramazovTags: Dostoevsky, lies, truth
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February 13, 2025
We live in a world that has facts and lies. The facts can be verified but the lies, whether intentional or not, prove to be lies because they cannot be verified. What does it mean to verify? It means to question the fact, weigh it, turn it upside down, find its source and question why it may be a lie, and if so, who or what the lie would serve. The quality behind this work of verifying is truth which is a quality of knowing or wishing to know. Truth is a term from carpentry where it means to true something by establishing that it is straight and fit for purpose. The world outside of us is fact while truth is the inner quality of being that discerns meaning and value.
There is no human capacity more important than this: the capacity for verifying what is true. Truth knows because the thing that it examines is either clear and straight or it is obscure and crooked. We are born with the capacity for verifying truth. Accepting lies without question because they require less effort and provide more comfort is how truth is lost. Every lie told, every lie lived out, tarnishes the most important of our human abilities. -
February 3, 2017
Last night, we invoked the quality of truth. Did you take this in? Did you understand it?
Truth cannot be understood or defined in words. To understand it is to be in its presence and experience the state that arises.
Truth is not a more accurate set of facts or a better theory of reality. Truth is the absence of falsehood. Truth is an all-pervasive clarity which excludes nothing. John 8:32 says “the truth shall set you free.” All the partiality and cleverness is swept away. There is such relief in the wordless contemplation of truth.
Truth does not argue its case. How then is it to be known? What effect can it have if it does not engage in debate? By its very presence, truth shames cleverness and falsehood. It humbles bias. The constructions of the mind fall away, unworthy of consideration.
Dr. Majid Ali tells this story:
There was a ferocious captain in Genghis Khan’s army during the invasion of India. He killed people with his sword at the least provocation and often without any provocation at all. His reputation preceded him where ever he went. On this occasion, after he entered a town, he demanded from his lieutenants to know if there was anyone left alive.
“No one, sir! No one except for this spiritual man,” a lieutenant answered.
“Aha! A spiritual fool!” he thundered. “Take me to the fool,” he ordered.
His lieutenant led him to an ancient small temple with a broken wooden door. The captain ordered the door smashed down. Within moments, his soldiers smashed it. The captain entered the tiny courtyard. A thin man in a loincloth and wooden sandals stood quietly in the middle of the courtyard. The captain contemptuously looked at the man and roared,
“Do you know who I am?”
“No, I don’t,” he man answered.
“You don’t know who I am?” the captain asked, shaking with rage.
“No, I don’t,” the man repeated his words calmly.
The captain pulled his sword from its sheath and flashed it with his full might. “I can slice through your body and not blink an eye,” he thundered again.
Everyone standing behind the captain froze, their eyes fixed on the little man. Time seemed to stop. The man stood silently, looking back at the captain with quiet eyes. Then he asked, in a whisper, “Do you know who I am, sir?”
“Who are you?” the captain roared again, thrusting his sword forward until it nearly touched the man’s abdomen.
“I am the one who your sword can slice through and not blink an eye,” he answered.
The captain trembled and left without a word.
Tags: invocation, state, truth
