formerly Akeret haBayit in Training

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Observations on Becoming~ Dec.26

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."— Winston S. Churchill

Truth. This is a small but powerful word. Some people literally shy away from it because they've avoided it in certain areas of their lives. Some people think that it's  whatever pops into their head. Others think it means, simply, not telling lies. But very few think of it as a necessary and desirable component in the whole of every aspect of their lives. 

truth [trooth] ,
–noun, plural truths [troothz, trooths] .
1.the true or actual state of a matter.
2.conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.
3.a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.
4.the state or character of being true.
5.actuality or actual existence.
6.an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.
7.honesty; integrity; truthfulness.
8.(often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.
9.agreement with a standard or original.
10.accuracy, as of position or adjustment.
11.Archaic. fidelity or constancy.
—Synonyms 1. fact. 2. veracity. 7. sincerity, candor, frankness. 10. precision, exactness.

Truth is light. Truth is righteousness. Truth is tricky. Not only because there are so many different definitions and perspectives of it, but also because real, unalterable, self-proving truth is hard to get to when you're stuck in a mentality. It's also sometimes hard to face-and hard for other people, who are not personally enlightened, to see. 

"All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; Third, it is accepted as self-evident."— Arthur Schopenhauer
 
Let me here state what I believe the definition of truth, as I am speaking of it now, to be. I believe that truth means the fact of things-not only physically, but mentally and spiritually.

"8.(often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life." 

 For example, it is an unalterable fact that the sun rises everyday. It is also a fact that it is best to say what you mean and mean what you say, otherwise you're being something other than what you are. That is deceptive and eventually disastrous, therefore to be more authentic to yourself- your thoughts,opinions, and most of all beliefs, would be truth. 

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."— Dr. Seuss

It is more difficult than I thought it would be to describe what I mean in my heart- but it's never easy describing abstract things such as truth, love, and faith. 

When we infuse our lives with love, like I talked about in my last post, and with righteousness according to HaShem and His word, our sense of truth becomes stronger, clearer, sharper, easier to articulate, and truly indisputable deep in our hearts- and often the hearts of others. 

Truth must start spiritually in order to come out from the core of ourselves and infuse the other areas of our lives. I've said many times that our thoughts are where everything starts- but I think I may have neglected to say that that is only after we have attended to our core-to our spirituality. That is where everything stems out of. 


"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."— Flannery O'Connor

To be continued... :p

2 comments:

  1. So true. I love, in particular, Flannery O'Connor's words on truth. I think it's often a difficult thing - difficult to hear, to know, to live. Of course, that makes it no less true, but it forces us to make a very conscious decision about whether or not we will believe it.

    Out of curiosity, have you read any of Flannery O'Connor's fiction? I've read two short stories and one novel of hers - it's kind of strange, imbued with incredibly profound symbolism, but definitely not my style of literature.

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