Truth

[Jhanananda]

What is Truth?

Recently I met a homeless woman who claims to have been traveling Out Of Body most of her life, and I told her I had the same experience, so now she wants to talk to me regularly, which I can understand, because most people think the claim makes us insane. Neither science, nor religion sanctions the belief or practice, even though the mystics of every religion described these experiences.

So, yesterday she came by my motor home parked in the sun at the local park charging my batteries via solar. In the course of one of many conversations with her she gave me a lot of evidence to question her rational. Her conversations reveal she is a devout Christian, but she accepts Christianity was highjacked by the priesthood. Yet, she embraces Donald Trump as the Messiah, which provides further evidence of her lack of critical thinking. She has also dived deeply down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.

The problem of figuring out what is truth versus falsehood is a huge challenge to which I often just walk away from any argument, seeking my solitude, because I find public opinion is mostly based upon thousands of years of lies, and science and academia suffer from their own lies. So, what is truth, or what part of truth is worth investing in? I keep coming back to the Pali Canon for advice.

We frequently debate belief systems here, and the first sutta in the Long Discourses lists the many belief systems that were in place during Siddhartha Gautama's days, and (paraphrasing) the conclusion there is, the Four Noble Truths which are the foundation of the Noble Eightfold Path. That is all the truth one needs.

[Alexander]

I have a neighbor who is similar, though she is interested in the Alex Jones conspiracies. I spoke to her recently and she mentioned she was writing a book. Unfortunately it is a rambling, mostly incoherent product of a schizoid mind.

I was pondering it and believe the central source of delusion is pride. The more belief in yourself and your own infallibility you have, the more ignorant you become. The antidote is humility. It is why Socrates said, “I only know that I know nothing.” The real path to truth requires self-stripping, simplicity, and self-knowledge.

Unfortunately I think our living in a spiritual Dark Age plays a big role in this. Modern political movements such as Trumpism, Hitlerism, and Wokeism are replacements to an authentic spiritual path. The human animal has a great inward desire to access and experience the transcendent. But all our existing religions are frauds, echoes (of real religions), and imitations.

[Jhanananda]

Thank you, Alexander, I happen to agree on all points.

[Tad]

Jhananda,
It is great that you remind us of 4NT. This forum has definitely helped me in filtering out all kinds of debris in the mass of spiritual teachings and doctrines that exist out there. I enjoy exploring various traditions, but I keep coming back to 4NT everytime as the ultimate teaching. 4NT+N8FP is probably all one needs to know.

[Jhanananda]

I completely agree, Tad.

[Michael Hawkins]

Yet, she embraces Donald Trump as the Messiah, which provides further evidence of her lack of critical thinking. She has also dived deeply down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.

For me, discovering what is true (let alone Truth) is a long, slow, grueling process of unlearning a lifetime's indoctrination.  I think that people turn to so-called "conspiracy theories" (and Messiah figures) in an effort to counteract the never-ending cascade of lies, distortions and blatant propaganda that has infiltrated all levels of societal institutions.  Education, religion, entertainment, "news media," the Law, medicine, science, literature, art - it is all, at some point along the way, manipulated to benefit the very few at the expense of the many.  So, people go down the rabbit-hole, as Jeffrey points out, trying to make sense of an Apocalyptic landscape that instills fear and anxiety at every turn.  Even if we are equipped with iron-clad scientific papers and authoritative quotes, we are still filtering everything through our own limited human belief systems, arguing for others to see from our point of view.  Truth within the context of life "out there" doesn't stand a chance.

Which is why it's so important to keep going back to writings like we find in the Sutta Pitaka and the mystics.  If everything else is ultimately a lie, distortion or illusion, we are left with direct experience of That which never changes.  Not to say that there aren't translation and editorial biases, but with original teachings based on perennial truth gained from direct experience, we have a chance to return to the source, leaving all the confusion behind.

[Jhanananda]

Thank you Michael for expressing the all too true. We can only just keep emptying ourselves every day in deep meditation, where the only real truth can be found by all.